Zuma working to a plan

Effectively declaring 2012 the year of infrastructure delivery, president Jacob Zuma used his State of the Nation address last week to unveil a list of geographically focused programmes, a host of infrastructure initiatives designed to support health and education, the upscaling of information and communication technologies, as well as to accelerate regional integration. Careful analysis reveals that the president is working to plan and that he is more of a pragmatic manager than he is generally credited for.

In an address containing much more detail than the country is accustomed to, he also committed to convening a Presidential infrastructure summit to discuss the implementation of the plan with potential investors and social partners.

As a clear indication that this new approach does not stem from a mere spur of the moment declaration, he indicated that the plan itself would be overseen by the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC) that was established in September last year under the leadership of himself and deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe. It will also include Ministers, premiers and the metropolitan mayors.

“We will use the project management expertise gained during the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup to make this project a success,” Zuma said as he also highlighted the role those infrastructure projects played in helping South Africa weather the effects of the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009.

Role of planning commission

It is interesting that in announcing the infrastructure development programmes, President Zuma stuck closely to the wording of the nearly 450 page National Development Plan (NDP) released November last year by the National Planning Commission under the leadership of minister Trevor Manuel.

It would seem that the NDP has become the document to study for those interested in knowing in which economic development direction the South African government is heading. The document was also been adopted the weekend before the State of the Nation address by the leadership of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Even Zuma’s unequivocal pronouncement in his addresses that “government remained committed to the creation of “a favourable and globally competitive mining sector, and to promote the industry to attract investment” seems to be in line with the NDP, which called for policy certainty.

On the question of nationalisation of mines he said: “We have answered this question many times, we are very clear ... nationalisation is not ANC or government policy. Our policy is a mixed economy.”

After the NDP was released in November there was opportunity for stakeholders to comment. Minister Manuel said at the recent mining indaba, held in Cape Town, that the final version of the plan contains considerably more detail and will be finalised by April of this year.

In the mean time the next major beacon in the deployment of the Zuma-administrations economic development plans is expected to be minister of finance Pravin Gordhan’s budget speech next week. It should give some clear indication of how the announced projects will be financed.

Projects planned

The geographically focused projects Zuma listed in the State of the Nation Address included:

• A plan to develop and integrate rail, road and water infrastructure, centred around the Waterberg and Steelpoort areas of Limpopo, to unlock coal, platinum, palladium, chrome and other minerals as well as the stepped-up beneficiation of minerals;
• Improving the movement of goods through the Durban - Free State - Gauteng    corridor by prioritising a range of rail and port improvements, supported significantly by a R300-billion investment programme by Transnet over the coming seven years;
• A new ‘South Eastern node’ in the Eastern Cape to bolster that province’s industrial and agricultural development and export capacity. Initiatives within the node would include logistics linkages with the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, the construction of a dam on the Umzimvubu river to support farming and the Mthatha revitalisation project. It would also embrace a new 16-million-ton-a-year manganese export channel through the Port of Ngqura;
• An initiative to expand the roll-out of water, roads, rail and electricity infrastructure in the North West, including the upgrade of ten priority roads; and
• A range of projects on the West Coast, including the expansion of the Sishen-Saldanha iron-ore corridor to above 80-million tons.

Piet Coetzer