an ecpc discussion document
TRANSCRIPT
11/29/2013 A Strategic Perspectiveand Propositionstowards Vision 2030 forthe Eastern CapeAn ECPC Discussion Document
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE & PREFACE ...............................................................................................................................i
1. INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND .................................................................................................... 1
ECPC Process.......................................................................................................................................... 1
Purpose of Document............................................................................................................................. 2
Organisation of Document ..................................................................................................................... 3
2. RATIONALE, CONTEXT AND FRAMEWORKS..................................................................................... 4
2.1 Basic considerations.............................................................................................................. 4
2.1.1 Policy enablers ...................................................................................................................... 5
(i) The South African Constitution ....................................................................................................... 5
(ii) The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP)............................................................ 6
(iii) The Vision 2030 National Development Plan (NDP)..................................................................... 6
(iv) The New Growth Path (NGP)....................................................................................................... 6
(v) The Eastern Cape Provincial Growth and Development Plan (PGDP) ........................................... 7
2.2 Limitations and context .......................................................................................................... 7
3. OVERVIEW OF THE EASTERN CAPE................................................................................................. 10
3.1 Distinctive attributes............................................................................................................. 11
3.1.1 A history of resilience and resistance............................................................................ 11
Pre-colonial era.................................................................................................................................... 11
Colonial and apartheid disfigurement................................................................................................... 12
Democratic South Africa....................................................................................................................... 13
3.1.2 Physical Attributes ........................................................................................................ 15
Water stock.......................................................................................................................................... 15
Biodiversity .......................................................................................................................................... 15
Extensive Coastline............................................................................................................................... 15
Mineral and energy resources .............................................................................................................. 16
Agriculture and forestry potential ........................................................................................................ 16
Economic infrastructure ....................................................................................................................... 18
3.2 Development Challenges..................................................................................................... 20
3.2.1 A conceptual framework ............................................................................................... 20
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030
3.2.2 Summary of Challenges & Issues ................................................................................. 21
3.2.3 The abyss if we do nothing ........................................................................................... 32
4. PATHWAYS TO ACTION ................................................................................................................... 34
4.1 Principles, Assumptions and Process .................................................................................. 34
Social and economic justice .......................................................................................................... 34
Policy and strategic alignment ...................................................................................................... 34
Balance continuity against necessary ruptures.............................................................................. 36
Evidence-based decision............................................................................................................... 36
Participatory, citizen-centred development .................................................................................. 36
Accountability............................................................................................................................... 36
Insularity against irrational political whim..................................................................................... 36
4.2 Vision, Outcomes, Goals & Strategic Actions....................................................................... 38
4.2.1 Preconditions to successful development planning and implementation ....................... 38
Citizen-centred focus: ................................................................................................................... 38
Capable, integrated state action ................................................................................................... 38
Multi-agent compact for development ......................................................................................... 39
4.2.2 Key Priorities for Province............................................................................................. 39
(i) Improvement of education ........................................................................................................... 39
(ii) Redistributive Economic Growth, Economic Independence & Job Creation ............................... 39
(iii) Rural development ................................................................................................................... 40
4.2.3 Summary of development actions for prioritisation........................................................ 41
Development Outcomes.............................................................................................................. 42
Quality Education & Training................................................................................................................ 42
Equitable and inclusive spatial and economic development: ................................................................ 44
Multi-agent, citizen-centred partnership for development: .................................................................. 45
Quality Health: ..................................................................................................................................... 46
5. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................... 48
Some References .................................................................................................................................... 49
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | PROLOGUE & PREFACE i
PROLOGUE & PREFACE
Yeha ke abalusi abaye bazalusa ngokwabo... amanqatha niyawadla..., umhlambi aniwalusi...
(‘woe be to the shepherds that feed themselves... ye eat the fat... but feed not the flock’)
Niyabubona ububi esikubo (‘see the distress we are in’)...
Masisuke sakhe (‘let us rise up and build’)
mindful that –
Isikali esikhohlisayo singamasikizi... (‘a false balance is an abomination’)
Ilitye elizeleyo lilikholo... (‘a just weight is a delight’)...
These opening quotes are taken from the Christian bible – Ezekiel 34: 2-3, Nehemia 2:17, and
Proverbs 11:1 respectively. The message we would like to appropriate, however, and the meaning
thereof, we believe to be a universally relevant one extending beyond the Christian creed1. We would
like to draw attention to three points to be carried into the reading of the document presented here:
Firstly, the opening quote is an admonishment against the abuse of power and a predominant concern
with the selfish interests of the powerful – by dint of political power, material wealth, or both. Such
abuse and selfishness have been a recurring cause of societal strife over the course of human history,
and the troubles of modern society – South Africa and the region of the Eastern Cape included – are
no exception. In the case of the ruling elite and those charged with the administration of public affairs,
the opening line is also a reminder on their accountability to the citizenry. A drift from accountable
stewardship opens up society to all kinds of abuse, distress and grief, inclusive of the downfall of the
abusers as warned further on in a reading of the allegory in the bible.
Secondly, in the first line of next quote we are called upon to see and correctly name the nature of the
‘distress we are in’ – material as well as our alienation from self and sense of inter-connectedness in
all manner of manifestation – ukubona nokuvuma imeko esikuyo as a necessary precondition to
ukwakha – healing and rebuilding. We are called upon to identify and understand the sources of our
troubled condition – in the lasting imprint of a colonially and apartheid-inspired dispossession and
dislocation of communities, disfigurement of society and economy, as well as consequential
imbalances of psyche that manifest in all manner of self-defeating behaviour. We are called upon to
understand how successor arrangements in global and local regimes, and the thinking that underpins
the organisation of economy, politics and institutions, impact our condition and future. We are also
called upon, though, to consider how own-inspired thinking and behaviour casts its own fog on our
ability to properly understand and/or address the condition of ‘distress we are in’. While history has
1Three major religions – Christianity, Islam and Judaism would identify with the section of the Christian bible from which
these lines are taken. Some will further point the origins of these monotheistic religions to African and Egyptianantecedents that are generally acknowledged to have charted the path for the civilization that is the inheritance of thewhole of humankind today (see Ben-Jochannan, Oduyoye & Finch, 1988 and Sabbah & Sabbah, 2000). Embracive of allthese religions as these lines may be, however, they are used here for their appeal to our essential human sentiment –ubuntu.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | PROLOGUE & PREFACE ii
bequeathed us lots of skews, we have also seen a number come up as new features of the post-1994
democratic order, positive changes notwithstanding.
In the second line of the second quote we are then called to rise (masisuke) and build (sakhe), in a
call issued to the sum human agency of the collective ‘si’ (‘we’/’us’) – an orientation to decision and
action involving and meant to benefit the whole of ‘us’. Of importance within this call is also a
reaffirmation of the greater public good and – by implication, a re-commitment to prioritising the
uplifting of the poor in all respects – a call to a social compact that will privilege the advancement of
the most deprived in our society as an important guarantor of the well being of all.
In the call to ukwakha should also be a keen awareness
about those central to the future we purport to build –
mainly the youth and generations who will inherit the world
we will leave behind, as well as citizens still marginalised
by dint of location in the physical and social senses. For
the sake of their real freedom and flourish, it is important
that we take care not to merely re-imagine the future
through lenses shaped by a past we are loathe to critically
interrogate, nor present-day arrangements suited only to
the convenience of a powerful few, whatever the claim to
power for such minorities – wealth, gender, ethnicity,
political rents or any other undue and unjustifiable privilege.
It is important therefore that the voices of those
conventionally not heard in such endeavours as discussed
here, are significantly featured – women, the youth and – in
the case of the Eastern Cape, the rural poor.
Thirdly, in the two lines of the third quote, we are called
upon to eschew ‘false balances’ in any means or form they
may present themselves, and strive for ‘a just weight’ –
justice manifest. In other words, there can be no proper
healing, building and sustainable development if based on
‘false balances’ and not holding justice as the end, or
based upon self-examination that is not honest, critical and
thorough.
Against the foregoing it may be asked – are we chasing utopia? But how else can good, peaceful and
successful societies, with conscientious caring leaders and content citizens, manifest in the absence
of an ambition for such ideal? It is this hankering for the ideal that has powered struggles for justice
which have earned this country its present-day democracy, as well as ongoing actions, and even
agitations, to deepen the practical meaning and material effects of this democracy.
A RECOMMITMENT TOFOUNDATIONAL VALUES
we are honest and constructive inreflecting on our condition...
we eschew false balances...
we strive for a just weight befittinga substantive democracycommitted to social and economicjustice...
we reclaim ubuntu, we reaffirm theprimacy of the public good, and callfor the restoration of a humandignity that has been undermined,and continues to be undermined byalienation – both engineered and
self-reproduced...
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND Page | 1
1. INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUNDThe prologue and preface above sets out the spirit within which we would like this document to be
read and discussed, as well as an approach to the task it outlines. This document builds on the
example of the National Development Plan (NDP) put out by the National Planning Commission
(NPC), and now generally acknowledged as a key roadmap for the future development of the Republic
of South Africa, contestations on certain elements and positions of the NDP notwithstanding. The
document sets out the Eastern Cape Planning Commission’s (ECPC) intent to facilitate the generation
of a shared understanding of the condition of the Eastern Cape, its developmental needs, as well how
to address these towards building a sustainable future for the province. Just as the NPC – appointed
in 2010 – was tasked by the President of the Republic of South Africa to ‘develop a vision of what the
country should look like in 2030, and a plan for achieving that vision’2, so too has the ECPC been
mandated by the Premier of the Eastern Cape with articulating a long term development plan for the
province, to be realised through a collective commitment to development action that will draw on the
multiple energies of citizens and key institutions of our society.
ECPC Process: The ECPC has mapped out its work in four related key processes and actions
summarised in the following graphic:
2See page 5 of the NPC’s Diagnostic Overview, 2010
ECPCProcess
Inclusive DIALOGUEas constant refrain
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND Page| 2
A commitment to continuous engagement is maintained across all phases of the above framework.
Underpinning this framework for planning, action and cross-accountability is also a call to active
participation by, as well as an ongoing critical dialogue among citizens and all key stakeholders in the
public life and development of the Province. The framework should further be underpinned by a
conscious agitation of a return to our essential qualities and values as humans – justice, empathy,
treating each other with decency and fairness, a commitment to truth3 and forthrightness in examining
our condition, in setting up the public good as paramount, and in dedicating ourselves to attaining a
just-weight and future of shared flourish for all. No simplistic assumption is being made here about
some utopian sameness in the ideal of ‘flourish for all’. But a stand is being taken on the necessity of
basic thresholds of material capability to guarantee decent livelihoods.
Purpose of Document: This document is mainly concerned with the first two phases of the four-part
process set out in the framework. Through a collective and participatory process of reflecting on our
human condition and the material conditions of the province, we wish to establish a common
understanding about the key challenges that face us, against strengths, innate resources and potential
that we have, en route to developing the provincial long term plan. The main aim of this document is
therefore two-fold:
Firstly, this document aims to stimulate a multi-pronged process that will raise and focus key issues
which should be addressed by a long-term vision and plan for the development of the Eastern
Cape. These issues are presented in summarised form in this document, with further detailcaptured in an ECPC document titled ‘A Diagnostic Overview of the Eastern Cape’, as well as a
number of detailed sectoral reports.
The process of raising the issues and key questions has unfolded through research exercises that
have probed various facets of the public life of the province, through analyses, as well as through
discussion. It has also involved, and will continue to involve citizens and many stakeholders in aseries of structured engagements and deliberative conversations – iincoko, iimbadu, as well as
other related activities intended to rekindle the spirit of active, critical engagement with important
matters of self and societal development by citizens of the Eastern Cape. The questions and issues
raised and discussed are also considered against the backdrop of the NDP as a key point of
reference, keenly mindful though of a very public debate that has ensued around some aspects of
the NDP4. At the same time, the development of the Provincial Plan is also tapping useful global
comparative examples of approaches taken to resolve challenges similar to those that face us.
A second aim of the document is to raise and offer for interrogation a number of starting
propositions on pathways and strategies to consider in plotting the future of the Province’s
response to the key questions and issues raised above – propositions that will be building blocks
3and the “courage (and freedom of conscience) to look each other straight in the eye”, as Cabral advised on the
importance of honesty as a precondition to success in any social or political project (see Cabral, 1979 – Unity & Struggle:Speeches and Writings, 2
nded. 2007:107)
4In a debate sometimes embroidered with ‘all or nothing threats’ regarding the suitability of appropriating the NDP as
development guide, the SACP has for one weighed in with a sober view on the importance of a constructive criticalreading of the NDP, anchored in principled stances on the requisites of a progressive and more equitable politicaleconomy than currently holds sway in South Africa and globally (see ‘let’s not monumentalise the National DevelopmentPlan’, in Bua Komanisi! Vol.8 Issue No.1, May 2013).
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND Page| 3
for the provincial Vision 2030 Plan as aligned with the NDP. These propositions on pathways
will essentially be two-fold: on the one hand, will be presented propositions seeking to improve
things within systems as extant, while on the other hand, will be presented ideas that break
significantly with current arrangements and practice. Consideration of all these propositions is
meant to happen through a transparent and inclusive process.
Organisation of Document: Against the foregoing introduction on the purposes of this document, the
principles underpinning its development and indeed the whole process of the ECPC and its intended
outcome, as well as the rigorous participatory methodology suggested for the ECPC process, in the
remaining sections of this document we then present the following order of things –
❷ Rationale, context and frameworksIn this section of the document we first reiterate the case for the long-term planning intendedthrough the NDP and the ECPC, against a consideration of enabling and delimiting factors
Next, we set out a brief overview of the Eastern Cape and the macro context against which ananalysis of the Province and its planning needs should be considered
❸Overview on Attributes and ChallengesWe open this section with an overview on some important attributes of the province againstwhich to consider the development of a vision and long term plan
We then present a summarised set of key challenges confronting the Eastern Cape, againstprincipal challenges identified in the NDP, organised along a conceptual framework that setsout key focus areas around which we leverage both an analysis of current condition of theProvince, as well as vision and long term plan
❹ Pathways to actionThe final section then presents some starting propositions around actionable possibilities –pathways, options and strategy to consider in the development of the Provincial Vision 2030Plan. As part of this exercise, we also pose implications and options for certain choices, aswell as ideas on appropriate agency and relationships that can underpin a workable socialcompact for a realisation of the objectives of the province’s long term plan
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2. RATIONALE, CONTEXT AND FRAMEWORKSThere are two broad markers to the set of questions, issues and propositions we want to raise in this
document, as well as consider through a series of conversations and other related exercises. First,
are certain factors relating to the public and policy space within which we drive the provincial planning
process, inclusive of key challenges confronting South Africa’s overall development as set out in the
NDP and other related presentations. Second, is an understanding of the Eastern Cape as a unique
socio-historical, political and geo-economic or spatial entity, and the implications of such for long-term
development planning. Let us look at each of these in turn.
2.1 Basic considerations
Planning – long and short term – is about developing pathways and strategies within which
aspirations and ambitions for the future can be realised. As is the case with the rest of South Africa,
and indeed many societies across the globe, the Eastern Cape faces a number of development
challenges owing to a range of causes historic and current. Most of these challenges are the
consequences of human errors of judgement, miscalculation and even recklessness. They often
occur when there is no conscious will towards balance and justice, when there are lapses in thinking
of our world and its endowments as a shared inheritance, when there are lapses in carefully
considering the effect of our plans and actions on others, when there is a clash of self interest among
a plethora of differing interest groups and actors – most of whom may not be even consciously aware
of others or their interests, values and perspectives, when there is ignorance, or when there is just
sheer ill-will as happens in the case of oppressive regimes. Challenges, caused and fostered as they
are by humans and the entities and organisations that prop up and/or sustain us, are thus possible to
address once the human will to resolve them is marshalled. Other necessary wherewithal – material
resources, other human capabilities such as skills, as well as institutional capabilities – then become
less difficult to systematically marshal to the human development project once the will and vision for
human good and fairness is consciously central to the human development project.
The changes desired can become manifest quite quickly – a decisive commitment to creating and
maintaining a culture of ethical politics in itself representing an important step towards shifting a
society from being stuck. Against this it becomes possible to also work at a gradual change in
consciousness, attitude and approach, and breaking from habits that may constrain development
even at the critical level of our individual and several orientation to agency. Other necessary
changes, such as a systematic development of an educated and skilled citizenry to drive and sustain
development, as well as the promotion of innovation, may of course take longer to bear fruit. But
even with the latter, it is important, as argued in the 2009 Green Paper on National Strategic
Planning, to ‘carefully identify the decisions (from a pro-developmental and ethical stance, we may
add) that need to be taken today (and tomorrow) in order to effect the desired changes in the future’.
The Green Paper on National Strategic Planning further reminds us that the development of a long
term vision and plan, backed by the requisite will and political consciousness that privileges the
collective human interest and the well-being of the ecological universe that sustains us, can provide a
strong basis for mobilizing citizens and institutions around a commonly agreed set of long-term goals.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Rationale, context and frameworks Page| 5
Such vision and plan can also provide a means for a constructive weighing of trade-offs between
competing objectives and interests, against of course a realistic appreciation of how power can
influence planning processes and their outcomes. It is important, therefore, that the principle of just-
weight is upheld even in a balanced representation of voices participating in the shaping of plans
around public futures.
Last, we are also reminded that the long term plan can be a good device for facilitating a sensible
sequencing of development programming decisions.
2.1.1 Policy enablers
The development of the long term plan for the province occurs against the background of a complex
history of the South African nation and this province, and a legacy that is the inevitable outcome of a
calculated and systematic fracturing of society during colonial and apartheid rule. We plan against
the backdrop of a resultant legacy of race, class and regional cleavages and unevenness that will
persist for some time to come. But the planning also occurs within the context of an elaborate set of
policies aimed at dismantling this legacy through guiding planning and other actions at each of the
three spheres of governance and public life.
The ECPC principally draws from a number of policies that speak boldly to addressing our present
condition of want as well as a reconfiguration of the structural scaffoldings of our inherited legacy.
Among these are –
(i) The South African Constitution and its guarantees of basic freedoms and rights. This
document carries the most phenomenal vision, as well as boldest and most comprehensive
statement ever set out in the history of this nation to guide human and public conduct in the
interest of, and to the equal benefit of all citizens of this country – living and to come. The
Constitution and its commitment to justice, basic rights and freedoms, is itself the culmination of
a number of consistent demands that have been pressed in the interests of a humanising
freedom over the many dark years of colonial and apartheid tyranny that preceded the dawn of
democracy in 19945. Going beyond a concern with human well-being, and in signalling a
comprehensive quest for a just-weight, the Constitution is also very clear in the balance it seeks
for an ecological equilibrium that will also ensure protection and sustainable use of theenvironment for ‘justifiable’ social and economic ends, ‘for the benefit of present and future
generations’ (RSA Constitution, ss. 24(b)).
All other policy pronouncements, strategies and plans crafted for the new democratic nation
then flow from the basic promise and premises of, as well as exhortation to a consciousness for
justice by the Constitution. A familiarity with this foundational document, and reading it to own
and live its message6, can still tremendously enhance the quality of our decisions and actions –
both individual and collective, as well as both public and private. Reading the Constitution thus
can also help improve the quality of our relationships.
5 The African Claims of 1943 and the Freedom Chapter of 1955 are pertinent examples here.
6‘Reading’ here is used in its literal and metaphorical senses – noting that there is an unevenness in the ability of
citizens to read the written word, it is important that the potentially empowering message of the Constitution alsobe propagated through a host of other creative means, so that all may own and live its message.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Rationale, context and frameworks Page| 6
(ii) The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). The RDP, sharing the vision of the
Constitution that was only formalised after the crafting of the RDP, as well as furthering the
vision of the 1952 Freedom Charter from which it derived its original inspiration, formed the
programme of action for the ANC-led government immediately following the 1994 elections. It
was developed with inputs from grassroots activists and trade unions, and aimed to harness the
energies of all classes of a highly mobilised civil society. The RDP had five key components:
meeting basic needs, developing human resources, building an inclusive economy,
democratizing the state and society, and building the necessary institutional framework for
implementing the RDP itself (RSA, 1994). The inspiring call to action of the RDP, and the
priorities raised in that programme, remain relevant and continue to find expression in many
policy and planning documents to this day, even as the implementation thereof is still found to
be wanting in a number of important respects.
(iii) The Vision 2030 National Development Plan (NDP). The NDP (RSA, 2012), represents the
most recent iteration of an overall vision as well as long term planning framework for the country
in the wake of the Constitution, the RDP and the GEAR7 macro policy documents. The NDP
sets out six interlinked priorities: (i) uniting all South Africans around a common programme to
achieve prosperity and equity (ii) promoting active citizenry to strengthen development,
democracy and accountability, (iii) bringing about faster economic growth, higher investment
and greater labour absorption, (iv) focusing on key capabilities of people and the state, (v)
building a capable and developmental state, and (vi) encouraging strong leadership throughout
society to work together to solve problems. The ECPC process has been aligned with that of the
NPC, and aims to give regional (provincialised) effect to the designs of the NDP.
(iv) The New Growth Path (NGP). The NGP (RSA 2010b) speaks more specifically to the economy
and aids the NDP in its elaboration of detail on this subject. The NGP was developed in
recognition of the major changes required in South Africa to create decent work, reduce
inequality and defeat poverty. The NGP is a bold and imaginative strategy to restructure the
economy to improve its productive as well as labour absorptive capacity through an ambitious
industrialisation, transform participation patterns as well as the composition of the drivers of the
economy, and accelerate the rate of economic growth in the medium term to long term. The
strategy sets out priorities for job creation and economic growth, and also suggests changes in
production that can generate a more inclusive and greener economy in the medium to long
term. The NGP prioritises employment creation through the following sectors: (i) infrastructure,
(ii) the agricultural value chain, (iii) the mining value chain, (iv) the green economy, (v)
manufacturing sectors, as well as (vi) tourism and certain high-level services. For the province,
the NGP provides impetus for addressing the structural limitations associated with the Eastern
Cape’s location on the margins of, and its under-contribution to South Africa’s productive formal
economy.
7There has been much controversy over the GEAR policy in particular, with critics mainly slagging its ‘fiscal over-
cautiousness and other features deemed to be more in keeping with a conservative strain of economics oftenignored even in the countries which host the institutions that prescribe this economic medicine for developingcountries such as South Africa. Defenders, on the other hand, will cite responsible fiscal stewardship as having beennecessary to give the South African economy the cushion of stability that has even made it possible to expand itscapability for social spend.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Rationale, context and frameworks Page| 7
(v) The Eastern Cape Provincial Growth and Development Plan (PGDP). The PGDP was aimed
at providing an overarching framework for socio-economic development in the Eastern Cape.
The PGDP is a decadal development plan, 2004-2014, focusing on six core objectives:
agricultural transformation, poverty eradication, manufacturing diversification, infrastructure
development, transforming the public sector and developing human resources. It can be said to
have been perhaps the first attempt at comprehensive long term planning managed at the level
of Province. Among criticisms directed towards the PGDP was that its implementation was
compromised by the lack of a strong driving and monitoring centre, an inability to carefully
programme and budget for implementation actions, and a continuing to integrate government
actions across departments and between the three spheres of government including misaligned
planning cycles and budget priorities. Furthermore, the PGDP was largely a government-driven
programme and can be said not to have sufficiently mobilised and committed other stakeholders
to a shared implementation process. These are pitfalls the new Vision 2030 Plan should avoid
repeating.
2.2 Limitations and context
Against the foregoing rationale and policy enablers, however, there are a several limitations to long
term planning at provincial and even local level which may constrain the province both in the
development and execution of such a plan.
• First, provincial planning takes place within the scope of the powers and functions bestowed to
provinces and the local sphere in the Constitution. As such, there will be a number of public
policy issues and determinative capabilities that lie beyond the decision-making power of the
province, and for whose resolution the province is dependent on the efficiencies of central
(national) decision-makers and the whims thereof. One key implication here is that the Eastern
Cape needs to sharpen its strategy and technical arguments to effectively lobby for a fair share of
resources or legislative and related enablers to address its developmental needs.
Against the reality of the subordination of provincial decisions to the national sphere of
leadership, are also broader global geopolitics and the economics and power relations thereof.
These further delimit possible spaces for development choices, policy and action by the country
as a whole, while constraining provincial choices and decisions even tighter. This among others
suggests that the province needs to sharpen its intelligence and networking capabilities in order
to keep abreast of, and exploit strategic opportunities in the supra-national political economy. In
the latter regard, the ECPC’s Diagnostic Overview focuses attention to, among others, a strategic
opportunity occasioned by conjunctural pressures as well as changes in the structure and
functioning of the global economy. The Diagnostic Overview points for instance to a worldwide
economic tumult and the emergence of new economic power centres as presenting models that
beckon a break with orthodoxies that are now proving inadequate and have in part led to the
current uncertainty in the global economy. The Diagnostic Overview further points to the need
for innovative thinking as well as institutional alliances that can better buttress a sustainable
development consonant with the peculiarities of our region, while also being responsive to more
global concerns around sustainable development. Against these, the Overview also advises on
the importance of carefully managing pressures that come with a society growing increasingly
impatient in the face of poverty, a deepening inequality and other associated socio-economic ills.
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• Second, the limits of the provincial fiscus: There are two major sources of funds for the provincial
fiscal purse, namely – revenue appropriated from central government, and own-earned revenue
from local and regional charges for services. A key constraint surrounding the former is that,
even if the determination of provincial allocations is fairer than pre-democracy, a standardisation
of key determining variables may make for allocations that do not sufficiently recognise certain
regional differences that may warrant deviations from averaged norms. For example, it is fair to
still call for targeted allocations to jumpstart regions such as the Eastern Cape, deserving on
account of certain untapped competitive advantages, against inherited disadvantages that still
require special attention. A key constraint surrounding the second revenue stream is that the
regional economy and its locales is so significantly underdeveloped as not to generate much that
can be applied to development needs. This once again suggests that the province needs to up
its technical wherewithal to develop compelling arguments for lobbying outside of mainstream
allocations.
• Third, the capability limitations of the state, citizens, and even business: This document
elaborates on these in the section dedicated to a more thorough interrogation of key areas of
focus for the ECPC.
• Fourth, stalemates encountered when there are
inadequacies in fashioning a contextually relevant paradigm and
praxis of development, or when there is a lack of mechanisms to
mediate competing interests in favour of the greater public good –
when we fail to properly define and fashion a reciprocal just weight.
An example here could be our underdeveloped capabilities to
manage what is a truly participatory planning, implementation and
accountability process that can yield and sustain equitable socio-
economic outcomes; the absence of which can only lead to a
widening of the chasm between classes and groups in our society.
• Fifth, and very important, is a political environment in the province that is stubbornly unstable and
not conducive to planning, development and due accountability. The underlying factors are
treated in the ‘Diagnostic Overview of the Eastern Cape’ and summarised further on in this
document, but it is important that dedicated work be accorded the development and consolidation
of an enabling political culture to ensure success with such endeavours as undertaken through
the Vision 2030 process. Otherwise, even if the technical capabilities motivated here are to be
developed and/or attracted, their effect will always be compromised in the absence of such
conducive political culture.
• Sixth, and closely related to the second point above, is the historical burden the province
continues to carry from an amalgamation of two big former homelands, the consequences of
which were perhaps not adequately planned for nor addressed in the post-apartheid period (in
contradistinction to the damage that was deliberately planned under apartheid). We may have
not sufficiently interrogated, for instance, implications for a reorientation of bureaucratic culture
for civil servants absorbed from that system, nor a due political conscientisation process for a
post-liberation cadre that has swelled the numbers of the ruling and other political parties post-
1994 – what driving motivations and sensibilities are at play here? is the driving motive to enter
politics largely self-serving, or a function of popular party persuasion, or a will to truly serve the
without greater
economic inclusion
(and equity), social
cohesion is a bridge
too far... (Frank
Mentjies, 2013)
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Rationale, context and frameworks Page| 9
public? if some combination of these, as is likely, how are such combinations amenable to a
desired agenda of development? what are the predominant political parties doing to cultivate a
psycho-political orientation befitting for service to the development project? To what degree
therefore may we have either enriched or compromised prospects for a progressive and just
development, an effective and efficient bureaucracy, or constructive political partnerships post-
1994, e.g. between state, labour and civil society?
These factors, and other related ones either mentioned or not mentioned in this document, we need
to stay alert to, and resist lazy analyses as well as assessments of ‘possibility’ that may lead to the
false balances warned against in the opening section of this document. At the same time, however,
it is important that the delimitations suggested above are not used as an excuse to avoid pushing for
choices and actions that hold the best hope for the development of our people in this province as
well as areas beyond the province that may be positively impacted by developments in, and lessons
to be learnt for the Eastern Cape.
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3. OVERVIEW OF THE EASTERN CAPEAfter nineteen years of democracy, we lay claim to a South Africa that has seen significant
improvement since the dawn of democracy in 1994. Such improvement is most particularly
pronounced in how the state has been turned around from being the prime instrument of repression
and societal destruction as was characteristic of the calculations of the oppressive colonial and
apartheid regimes of the past who presided over a project of gross injustice that spanned centuries in
this country. While the journey of righting this society, its underpinning economy as well as its cultural
and bureaucratic ethos is a work-in-progress that will take some time
before a comprehensive justice is realized for all, there has been
significant progress made in opening up freedoms, in attaining a fair
degree of peace, as well as evenly extending social amenities and
public services in a manner respectful of the equality of the welfare of
all citizens of this nation. The Eastern Cape has also similarly
progressed, both as a result of the implementation of a range of policy
and programme interventions, as well as because of a number of
features which collectively make the province unique.
Yet significant challenges still confront the nation. The diagnostic
summary contained in the National Development Plan (NDP) sets out
nine primary challenges facing South Africa:
1) Too few people work
2) The quality of school education for black people is poor
3) Infrastructure is poorly located, inadequate and under-maintained
4) Spatial divides hobble inclusive development – also in EC
5) The economy is unsustainably resource intensive
6) The public health system cannot meet demand or sustain quality
7) Public services are uneven and often of poor quality
8) Corruption levels are high
9) South Africa remains a divided society
The NDP urges that these challenges be addressed in an integrated manner, but goes on to single out
the first two as being of particular high priority. The people of the Eastern Cape will largely agree with
the above framing of challenges by the NPC. Against such agreement, however, the ECPC also
seeks to facilitate a common understanding of how the above challenges play themselves out and are
particularly experienced in the Eastern Cape, so that the solutions crafted – while aiming at a vision
consistent with the NDP’s, are also sufficiently cognisant of, and responsive to the specific needs of
the Eastern Cape.
Before we look deeper into these though, we want to reflect on a number of attributes we consider
important to factor into the development of a long term plan for the province.
we now lay claim to a
South Africa and
province that has seen
significant
improvement since
1994 ....
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 11
3.1 Distinctive attributes
We purposefully foreground the main challenges that confront the province against an articulation of a
range of unique features and assets that point to a potential for the Province to achieve flourishing in
the medium to long term. We invoke these to inspire as well as provide hope and morale, which are
necessary for purposeful action for a better future, rather than to diminish the scale of the challenges
that confronts the province. While there are many attributes of the province worthy of mention, for
purposes of this discussion document we will treat the following two:
A history of resilience and resistance
Physical attributes
3.1.1 A history of resilience and resistance
History here – in its honest, balanced and inclusive articulation, is invoked for its potential to inspire
as well as provide hope and morale, which are necessary for purposeful action for a better future,
rather than invoking history as an uncritical ‘return to the source’ for its own sake, as was
admonished by Cabral (1979). In particular, we consider the utility of four major epochs that
characterise the history of South and Southern Africa as a shared space.
Pre-colonial era: First, are positive ideas we need to mine from this country’s and region’s pre-
colonial past, the first epoch we wish to invoke for inspiration. This is a past that saw organised
social formations, sophisticated nation-building, as well as scientific, cultural, political and economic
development that evolved over millennia. Most of this memory has been obliterated through colonial
destruction8, or even distorted, notwithstanding some evidence of stubborn remnants of this past9.
The importance of a re-conscientisation and re-learning project to reconnect with this story of our
past and its inspirational value is underscored in the following extract from Cheikh Anta Diop (1981,
p3), one of the greatest African thinkers of the modern era:
For us, the return to Egypt in all domains is the necessary condition for reconciling Africancivilisations with history, in order to be able to construct a body of modern human sciences and
in order to renovate African culture. Far from revelling in the past, a look toward the Egypt ofantiquity is the best way to conceive and build our cultural future.... ‘most of the ideas that wecall foreign are oftentimes nothing but mixed up, reversed, modified, elaborated images of the
creations of our African ancestors – such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, dialectics, the theoryof being, the exact sciences, arithmetic, geometry, mechanical engineering, astronomy,medicine, literature, architecture, the arts etc.
8See among others Chancellor Williams (1987) writing from a broader Africa-wide perspective, and the likes of Noel
Mostert (1992) focusing on the region of the Eastern Cape. A perturbing lacunae in these accounts is a history of theregion that even precedes the Bantu migrations to the southern-most regions of this country – in other words, there stillexists a significant gap in the reconstruction of the story of especially our Khoi and San ancestors.
9A number of writers have had a lot to say, and evidence to offer in supporting this claim. See for example Chancellor
Williams (1987, 1993), Cheikh Anta Diop (1967, 1981), and Theophile Obenga (2004) for sophisticated reconstructions on ageneral African history, and Jeff Peires (1982) on a useful localised account.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 12
While focusing his work in a careful study of Egypt as a centre where
this wisdom and high-culture reached its heights more than 5000 years
ago, Diop in his book repeatedly traces the roots of this civilisation to its
Southern Africa origins, and thus points to our common indebtedness
as humanity to among others our Khoi and San ancestors, whose
influence is still stubbornly evident in the modern Eastern Cape – in the
dominant language of this region, in the art remains, in traces of the
most ancient mine in the world10, and even in the phenotypical features
of many citizens of the Eastern Cape.
Colonial and apartheid disfigurement: Then came two epochs of serious strife and disruption to
the trajectory of development and evolutionary progress of the pre-colonial era. The first of these
was the era of colonial incursions, large-scale dispossession of peoples’ land and other assets, wars
against Africans, destruction of the Africans’ social structure and economies, and the establishment
of a colonial political order that was to stretch over three centuries. This colonial aggression and
domination was seriously resisted over many years by the inhabitants of the region, and history
records that the Eastern Cape and its settled population – the Khoi, San and amaXhosa in particular,
bore the brunt of the wars of resistance against colonial intrusion into Southern Africa11, in other
words, a defence of the greater motherland than merely the immediate region of the then so-called
Cape colony12. The struggles against colonial encroachment waged by the Khoi, San and
AmaXhosa were also to form an important bedrock for the consciousness of nationhood that was to
carry into the modern era of struggle that ultimately yielded democracy in 199413 – a memory and
consciousness of oneness still important to our struggles of today and tomorrow for a humanly
affirming and just development.
The second phase of this era of domination was the apartheid era, where a eurocentric deal between
foreign imperial powers led by the British on the one hand, and naturalised Afrikaner settlers on the
other, was to see an extension of the domination and brutalisation of Africans in body and spirit that
had begun during the colonial phase. This was to last another four decades and some, an era once
again where the resistance continued and found renewed forms of organisation and the building of a
greater political identity among the oppressed across South Africa. Just as the Eastern Cape had led
the resistance to colonial incursions during the colonial phase, so too was the region prominent in the
modern reconstitution of the struggle, with many national heroes and heroines hailing from this
region.
10Diop (1981, p12) reports that 30,000 years ago our ancestors were mining iron in the area now known as Swaziland,
where the most ubiquitous stamp of the Khoi and San – rock art – is also still to be found to the present-day.11
See among others Noel Mostert (1992).12
This story is not dissimilar to that of the Nuba fighting over centuries to defend the interior of the continent against the
colonial incursion of Arabs from the north of Africa (see Williams, 1987)13
This is evident in the story of the two early anti-colonial organisations expressively embracive of the multi-nationalities
of the oppressed – they both had a leadership with strong representation from the Cape regions. These were the AfricanPolitical Organisation (APO) that was mainly led by descendants of the Khoi, San and leaders of mixed race, as well as theAfrican National Congress that came after the APO and led South Africa to its ultimate liberation. In its unifying ideal, theANC’s founding constitution was even more explicit in its commitment to pan-Africanism (see Karis & Gerhart, 1997).
Eastern Cape an
abode of common
ancestors, whose
memory transcends
race, tribe and
nationality...
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 13
This memory of civilisation, wisdoms and struggle we seek to better understand14, draw inspiration
and strength from, as well as hold up as a reminder to the success that can be attained when there is
commitment to a clear vision of reclaiming and working towards a dignified future for all.
Democratic South Africa: The final epoch we must invoke is that of the modern democracy we now
are in the process of building, an era of freedom that was ushered in in 1994 as a result of the
successful struggle of the dominated majority in this country, led by the broad liberation movement
and African National Congress as a modern organised political force that had coalesced the hitherto
disparate efforts of cultural groupings15 of the dispossessed around the turn of the last century.
This modern era of democracy is a work-in-progress nineteen years in the making – great strides
have been made, and big challenges still remain to be tackled, mostly owing to a nation working itsway towards finding a new just-weight for all, as counselled by among others Du Bois (1920, p84) in
the following words:
the establishment of a democratic order will bring a “new wisdom, new points of view, and new
interests that will be from time to time bewildering and even confusing... the appearance of newinterests and (even) complaints means disarrangement and confusion to the older ‘equilibrium’,but it is the inevitable preliminary step to that larger equilibrium in which the interests of no human
soul will be neglected. These interests will not, surely be all fully realised, but they will berecognised and given as full weight as the conflicting interests will allow.”
In addition to Du Bois’ anticipatory counsel many decades ago pre decolonisation, however, it is
important to acknowledge that we are also faced with the gigantic task of building a new society and
‘renovating an African culture’ (Diop’s call) against, among others, a big challenge of sensibilities
scarred by an alienation whose destructive reach we may only part comprehend, even as we see itsdisturbing effects. In the words of Professor Luswazi (2013), we are confronted with –
an ‘Alienated Human Condition’ that is a historical colonial/ apartheid (and to some extent postapartheid) phenomenon expressing human brutality, oppression, exclusion as well as lack ofsolidarity, materially manifest in unequal access to the country’s material resources, in class, race,
gender and regional discrepancies, in unequal access to land, health care, good education, goodgovernance, infrastructure, decent human settlements, etc. Psychosocially, alienation manifestsitself through weak social capital, weak ties in human solidarity, in a weakened consciousness of
ubuntu, in struggles to stem the disintegration of the family, in domestic and community violence,rising child-headed families, rising substance abuse, and inadequate social protection and safetywhere community support measures remain weak, thus leaving vast numbers of citizens insecure
and unable to realise the lives they desire. Besides continually pushing down peoples’ sense of selfworth, the alienation and struggle for survival also often results in unethical behaviour linked to a
14 The ECPC is engaging in an ongoing process of researching and learning from the Eastern Cape’s rich history to identifythe main historical forces and agencies that have shaped our present socio-economic reality, and may be relevant tofuture provincial socio-economic planning. The focus is on the cultural and socio-economic development of people of theregion in the past, relating to the scientific knowledge of, as well as individual and social practices around farming, tradeand industry, infrastructure, the socio-economics of labour, utilisation and management of land, etc, and the political andinstitutional organisation that underpinned all this.15 Cultural and nation-groups were disparagingly referred to as ‘tribes’ in colonial lexicography, a term still often useduncritically.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 14
confused or even mischievous sense of entitlement, which can part explain both a tendency
towards, and accommodation of corruption by some, as well as sporadic acts of vandalism by thedisenchanted who feel ‘deserving’. All these are signs of an identity or existential crisis...
Yet, even against the modern-day challenges of building a caring, productive and sustainable
democracy, the memory of the people’s ability to withstand tremendous odds over centuries, and still
rise to re-build, should remain a great source of inspiration as well as source of caution against
counter-progressive temptations and tendencies we should be watchful against. That the latter exist
– at a number of levels of our social strata, and manifest in a number of forms, is also part of the
unfolding narrative of the province in the new democracy. Mindful of this therefore, it is also
important to maintain the necessary humility when drawing strength from the positive history of the
people of this region, and resist the temptation of hegemonic entitlement by dint of a valiant history of
struggle16, as well as having been predominantly in the leadership in the past. Even as we think
about solutions particular to addressing the condition of the Eastern Cape, these are framed within
an awareness of a greater project of the Republic of South Africa to whose success the Eastern
Cape should also contribute.
Back to the positive: While the Eastern Cape is renowned for having being at the forefront of the
resistance against colonialism, the province can also lay claim to have been the birthplace of a
modern African intellectualism in the Southern Africa region. The Eastern Cape is home to
institutions of learning that count among the older institutions on the continent17, and has thus
historically served as a magnet for especially Africans seeking to pursue higher since the turn of the
last century. As a result, the Eastern Cape has also historically led the exporting of educated human
capital across, South Africa, the Southern Africa region as well as other parts of the globe. Many
leaders in politics, academia, government and business hail from the Eastern Cape or have been
nurtured in the Province even in cases where they might have come from outside the province.
Since the 1990s and the removal of a then racially-driven access to institutions of higher learning, the
Eastern Cape’s institutional resources have also been boosted with the opening up and growth of the
four universities18 in the province – inimitable resources of people and knowledge to build upon and
anchor regional development strategies and projects around.
Properly harnessed, all the above-mentioned unique features of the province point to a great
potential for the Eastern Cape to achieve flourishing in the medium to long term. The ECPC will
develop its plan based on these unique features and our continued analysis of what works and what
does not work.
16 All regions of the South Africa were part of this struggle, fiercer as it was in the then Cape region, by historic-geographical circumstance of this region being the frontier with seafarer colonising settlers.17
The province is home to the University of Fort Hare, which is one of the older institutions to have been establishedduring the colonial era in South Africa – in 1916, and was the only one accessible to Africans for some time. There wereother older universities in existence then in South Africa – the University of Cape Town (1827), Stellenbosch (1866)Witwatersrand (1896), Free State (1904) and Rhodes (1904), but they were only meant for whites. Neither could theoldest extant university on the continent – Al Azhar in Egypt, founded in 970, as well as Khartoum (1902) and Cairo (1908)be said to have been accessible to non-Muslim Africans.
18University of Fort Hare, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Rhodes University and Walter Sisulu University. A lot
of work still needs to happen, however, to consolidate especially the historically black universities.
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3.1.2 Physical Attributes
The Province of the Eastern Cape is the third largest of the nine provinces in terms of surface area,
comprising 170 600 km2, which represents some 14.0 percent of the country’s total land mass. The
Province is a post-1994 amalgam of what was known as the Eastern Province, the Border and North-
Eastern Cape area, as well as the former homelands of Transkei and Ciskei. The Eastern Cape is
located on the south-eastern seaboard of South Africa, bordered by the Indian Ocean in the south-
east, the Free State and the Kingdom of Lesotho in the north, the Western and Northern Cape
provinces in the south-west as well as Kwazulu-Natal in the north-east.
The Eastern Cape Province comprises the six district municipalities of Alfred Nzo, Amathole, Cacadu,
Chris Hani, Joe Gqabi, and OR Tambo. There are also two metropolitan municipalities in the Province
– the Nelson Mandela and Buffalo City Municipal Metros. Between the metros and district
municipalities they account for forty-five (45) local municipalities.
The Eastern Cape is a region endowed with a number of resources that give it a geo-economic
competitive edge, both realised and potential. The following are worth noting for purposes of long
term development planning:
Water stock: The Eastern Cape is a region with high water potential. All three of the water
management areas in the Eastern Cape – Upper Orange, Fish to Tsitsikamma and Mzimvubu to
Keiskamma – show projected positive balances in 202519. This represents a significant advantage for
the Eastern Cape in a world of growing population and growing freshwater scarcity, and in a water-
scarce country such as South Africa. This abundance of water has the potential for unleashing multi-
faceted developments in agriculture, energy, the rural economy and other economic endeavour.
Biodiversity: The province is rich in biodiversity, with eight of nine the South African biomes found in
the province, including twenty-eight distinct vegetation types. It also incorporates five centres of
endemism, or unique ecological habitats. The largest of these, the Albany Centre of Endemism,
extends for almost nine million hectares across the province. Because centres of endemism are
believed to be so unique, their conservation is considered a particularly high priority20, and around
these is also included proposed extension of nature reserves, as illustrated in Map 1 below.
Extensive Coastline: The province is surrounded by a largely unspoiled coastline stretching over 800
kilometres and replete with potential for tourism as well as an under-tapped marine economy in the
form of natural marine resources and a maritime trade that can yield significant returns to the regional
economy. The latter – opportunities in maritime industries and trade, is indeed an area that the
Industrial Development Zones – Coega and East London, among others, seek to exploit.
19According to the National Water Strategy (2004), by 2025 South Africa will have, in the absence of new bulk
infrastructure, an overall negative water balance, with ten of the nineteen water management areas showing a negativebalance. Against these projections, however, in terms of potential, the Mzimvubu Water Management Area sits in firstplace among the 19 nationwide, and Upper Orange sits at third position.
20Eastern Cape State of the Environment Report, 2011
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Mineral and energy resources: In recent years there has been a focus on the potential for gas
and petroleum extraction, with offshore opportunities for conventional gas and petroleum opened
up though the Petroleum Agency of South Africa. Targets for exploration onshore include coal-
bed methane in the Molteno Coalfield, and shale gas to the southwest. The province is also well-
endowed with water, wind, and is positioning itself as a major generator of renewable energy.
Agriculture and forestry potential: While currently limited in its contribution to GPD, the province
has large potential for increased agricultural production. Map 1 shows where existing irrigated
agriculture (195 000 Ha), forestry, (479 000 Ha) and game farming (357 000 Ha) is situated. The
map further shows forestry potential (150 000 Ha) and arable land (1 051 000 Ha). Existing
irrigated farming, as well as commercial livestock farming is concentrated in the west of the
province, while agriculture and forestry potential is largely to be found in the eastern portions.
Hence agriculture has been, and continues to be seen as the mainstay of economic and rural
development policy for large parts of the Eastern Cape.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 17
Map 1: Agricultural and natural resource potential
Against this potential, however, and due to a combination of factors past and present, the Eastern
Cape is vulnerable to degradation as it is exposed to inappropriate land-use activities. Urban
expansion, dense rural settlements, inappropriate farming, and the demand to meet the needs of an
increasing population – primarily food production – are all contributing factors leading to the
degradation of land and loss of land productivity in the Eastern Cape. According to the Eastern Cape
Biodiversity Conservation Plan about 15% of the land cover in the Eastern Cape is considered to be
degraded, while an estimated additional 13% of land has been transformed (i.e. not natural), of which
8% is due to agriculture. Built up areas comprise 3% of land cover with only about 4% of land having
been formally conserved. This may have long-term impacts on future development opportunities,
limiting the economic value and potential of the Eastern Cape. Currently, the population density of the
Eastern Cape is approximately 4 people per hectare. This number will increase in the future and it is
critical that long-term land-use planning is co-ordinated to ensure that the carrying capacity of the
Eastern Cape is sufficient to meet the social and economic demands of a growing population.
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At the same time, historically unequal land ownership patterns that persist into the present also do not
help the situation of stresses on the land. Patterns of land ownership and the legislation governing
land administration ensure that a near permanent record of the region’s history of inequality is
retained: In the west are freehold white owned farms that still make up the bulk of the province’s
meagre contribution to GDP through agriculture, buffeted by among others an irrigation infrastructure
bequeathed by the colonial and apartheid governments. In the centre is the Border patchwork of
quitrent, white owned farms, marginal black owned freehold, colonial and apartheid expropriations,
and a trickle of restitutions. In the east Transkei customary tenure still continues, while land
administration and planning in the former Ciskei and Transkei is still governed by old order
proclamations and ordinances dating back to 1921, and even clouded and skewed to a significant
degree by predominantly patrilineal patterns of inheritance and leadership. None of these challenges
– socially determined as they are, should be placed beyond the realm of critical scrutiny, discussion
and resolution if the objective is to build a better future and renew even cultural fundaments that
people hold dearly to.
Economic infrastructure: In terms of infrastructure and the built environment, the Eastern Cape is
also inimitably the automobile hub of the country, has two functional harbours and has three medium-
to-large airports in Mthatha, East London and Port Elizabeth, as shown in Map 2. The Province has
two of the country’s four industrial development zones – Coega IDZ and East London IDZ. The Coega
IDZ, the country’s largest, is located in Port Elizabeth, built adjacent to the deep water Port of Ngqura.
The East London Industrial Development Zone is located adjacent to the East London airport and the
Port of East London. The two IDZs in the province have notched important investments and continue
to play an important role in the development of industrial capacity and export competiveness of the
province.
As mentioned above, the province has three large ports – Port Elizabeth, East London and Ngqura.
Port Elizabeth currently provides container, automotive and multi-purpose bulk terminals. The
development of Port of Ngqura has provided an opportunity to relocate bulk operations to the new
port. There are a number of major projects in the Port of Ngqura, such as the continued expansion of
the container terminal, development of liquid bulk and general freight terminals, as well as a new
manganese export terminal and small craft basin. These developments all come with associated rail
infrastructure. The Port of East London, on the other hand, provides the city, the IDZ and immediate
hinterland with multi-purpose, liquid bulk, dry bulk and automotive terminals.
This economic infrastructure, set to benefit its share from government’s infrastructure-build
programme, represents attributes that can be built upon. Plans are also underway to expand the
Mthatha Airport, extend the East London Port and improve road and rail linkages, notably the N2 Wild
Coast Road, the Wild Coast Meander, and rail upgrades between East London, the hinterland and
Port Elizabeth and the mining industry in the Northern Cape whose products will feed into the Coega
and Ngqura initiatives.
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Map 2: Economic Infrastructure
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3.2 Development Challenges
3.2.1 A conceptual framework
In the introduction to this section we stated our wish to interrogate the particular circumstances
of the Eastern Cape against the backdrop of the key challenges raised in the NDP. Having
considered some important attributes of the province in the previous section (3.1) against which
we can base a plan for the future, we next want to briefly set out how South Africa’s key
challenges as outlined in the NDP, as well as a few others more peculiar to this province, find
expression in the Eastern Cape. We do this by clustering the challenges, and outlining their
implications for the Eastern Cape, around three areas of focus, namely – (i) human
development, which is the principal focus of our development endeavour, (ii) economic
opportunity and (iii) institutional capabilities for governance as well as development facilitation
and management. A balanced weighing of, as well as integrated and systemic action across
these focus areas as in the scheme below, will ultimately determine how human flourishing and
well-being that sits at their intersection, will be impacted:
Human Development
Development of mind, body and spirit for purposeful,conscientious and responsible action – through groundedsocialisation, quality education, training and skills acquisition;knowledge creation and innovation; the arts and creativecultural activity; sports; healthy living and quality health caresystems, and enabling social infrastructure
Institutional Capabilities
A capable state committed to a justdevelopment; capable civil-societyorganisations and institutions; and an ethicalprivate and corporate sector jointlycommitted to, and collaborating around ajust and equitable development
Economic Opportunity &
Rights
Equitable availing of chances formeaningful, dignified work andincome; plus fair distribution ofeconomic infrastructure and materialresources for an inclusive socio-economic development
Humanflourishing and
well-being
A Conceptual Framework on Aspirational Ends(as basis for analyses, vision and plan – departing from promise of justice in Constitution, aligned to NDP)
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 21
3.2.2 Summary of Challenges & Issues
At the root of South Africa’s and the province’s developmental struggle, as is even the case
extending to other parts of the Southern Africa region, sits the greater challenge of addressing
an enduring structural legacy of under-development and deprivation inherited from the colonially
and apartheid inspired disfigurement of the landscape of South Africa and the greater region21 –
the dispossession of land and other sources of livelihood, the disruption of families and social
institutions, the engineered undermining of life-chances of the majority of the population, the
disruption of a cultural basis for organic intellection and self-determination and the supplanting
thereof with an alienating exogenous logic, and a systematic decimation of self-worth that self-
reproduces across generations for the majority of citizens.
In the case of the Eastern Cape the manifestation of the consequential material deprivation is so
graphically demonstrated in the following maps below, which spatially show persisting levels of
deep deprivation continuing to be the bane of the majority of citizens who directly lived the
experience of colonialism, apartheid and Bantustan politics, as well as their offspring whose life-
chances were significantly predetermined by the condition of their forebears. The new plan of
the province thus has to proceed from a conscious determination to disrupt and undo the
structural features that perpetrate the dehumanising effects of this legacy, while taking care to
consolidate that which represents good foundations to build upon. At the same time though, the
plan also needs to disrupt anti-developmental tendencies and obstructions that have manifested
post-1994. This includes a conscious revisiting of paradigms that may have inadvertently led to
policy and programmatic choices which carry no real prospects of significantly denting the
structural features impeding progress for the majority of the province’s citizens. Anything less
ambitious will just prolong and deepen the misery, and further undermine prospects for a future
of flourish and stability.
Map 3 and 4 below illustrates the spatial distribution and concentrations of both socio-economic
opportunity as well as social need in the province. First, using Census 2011 data at ward level
an index of socio-economic underdevelopment has been created and mapped in Map 3. The
index provides scores for education, income and unemployment22 on scale of 0-100. A low
score indicates lower levels of deprivation, or alternatively – high levels of development, while a
high score indicates the opposite – high levels of need, or lower levels of socio-economic
development. While almost the entire province registers below-satisfactory levels of socio-
economic development, the map shows how most of the former Bantustan areas are much
21The NDP characterises these area of deprivation as ‘poverty traps’ to be eliminated by 2050 (p233). In maps
showing ‘spatial dislocations at a national scale’ (NDP, p236-237), the denseness of deprived rural settlements inthe Eastern Cape is also graphically illustrated.22
Education is measured by the percentage of people 20 years or older with some secondary education (Grade 9
or less). Income levels are measured by the percentage of people with income of less than R800 per month, initself debatable as reasonable measure of poverty borderline. Unemployment is measured by the percentage ofpeople unemployed, using the official definition. Equal weight is given for the three indicators in the index.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 22
more severely underdeveloped, when compared with the western, central, and urban (metro
centres) parts of the province which on average show higher levels of development23.
Similarly a Basic Services Index has been constructed using Census 2011 data per ward. The
Index provides scores for RDP level access to water and sanitation, as well as use of electricity
for lighting24. High score indicates poor access to basic services and a low score indicates
better access. Map 4 shows stark spatial contrasts in the levels of access. The areas that make
up O R Tambo District and Alfred Nzo District show very low access in the majority of wards.
The basic services index reveals even much greater spatial contrasts than the socio-economic
development index, indicating a need to pay particular importance to accelerating the
development of social infrastructure in these parts of the province.
23These averages mask differences in the seemingly better parts of the provinces, with urban indices distorted by
a higher presence of a middle class as well as industry that is concentrated in these areas, against the reality ofhigh levels of urban poverty also clustered around these sites.
24Access to water is measured by the percentage of the population in the ward with no access to water. No access
is defined as piped (tap) water on community stand, distance higher than 200m from dwelling/institution or noaccess to piped (tap) water. Access to sanitation is measured by the percentage of the population in the ward withno sanitation, defined by pit toilet without ventilation, bucket toilet or no facility. Access to electricity is defined bythe percentage of the population that do not use electricity for lighting. That is lighting is provided by gas, paraffin,candles, solar or there is no lighting. Equal weight is given for the three indicators in the index.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 23
Map 3: Socio-Economic Index
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 24
Map 4: Basic Services Index
Significantly therefore, against the spatially patterned features
of the political economy of the province, and the persisting
challenge of underdevelopment of especially its rural regions
where the majority of citizens are to be found, the long term
plan of the Eastern Cape should centre rural development
as a key cornerstone for the sustainable development of the
province.
Against the foregoing, and consistent with the conceptual framework also set out under
3.2.1, below we summarise key challenges facing the Eastern Cape, with further detail
underlying this summary contained in the ECPC’s ‘Diagnostic Overview of the Eastern
Cape’. It will be noted that much as these challenges are expressed distinctly, they are
interrelated, and this becomes much clearer when considered from the point of view of the
three areas of focus against which we look into the meaning of these challenges for the
Eastern Cape:
Eastern Cape must make
rural development the
pivot for sustainable
development...
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 25
Focus area 1 – Human Development We understand human development to be
embracive of the purposes, means and processes for education and training; actions relevant toa positive enculturation and socialisation; an affirmation of the self-worth of all citizens as well asthe generation and reproduction of social worth; holistic human health, and the knowledge,ethics and other sensibilities underpinning all this. Deficiencies and inadequacies in these canlead, and have led to an alienation of human consciousness – an alienation that, unlessconsciously addressed, can and often manifests and self-reproduces in behaviour that devaluesself, compromises healthy relations and transgresses societal stability.
NDP Summary ofChallenges onHumanDevelopment
The quality of school education for black people is poor
The public health system cannot meet demand or sustainquality
South Africa remains a divided society
Eastern Cape Issues on Human Development
The education system of the Province is undermining prospects for a flourishing
future for all, especially children of the rural poor and urban working class
― Children from poor backgrounds achieve far below their counterparts in reading, writing
and maths
― A majority of learners do not move evenly through the schooling system: Over the period
2000-2011 about 22% of learners who entered Grade 1 progressed to Grade 12 within the
12-year period, with only 14% eventually successful in the NSC examination. In 2012-
2013, 21 620 grade 1s dropped out before they reached grade 2.
― Schools provide very limited access to success and quality in education; hardly any
extended writing takes place which is central to developing critical and analytical
thinkers.
― Teacher development – both conceptual and subject knowledge as well as teaching
methods – can make a significant difference in the quality of education offered in schools
― There is an uneven regional distribution of resources and infrastructure, schools with high
enrolments are without water supply, sanitation and electricity, most notably in rural
areas;
― Learning resources such as appropriate books are inadequate;
― Class-bound differences are reflected in outcomes, with poor schools underperforming
while the wealthier schools are performing significantly better: in 2012, 78,4 % passed
grade 12 in quintile 5 and 55,8% passed in quintile 1, a pattern that reflects the dual
nature of schooling.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 26
― Mismatches between learners’ home language and the language of learning and teaching
(English) compromises both the quality of education offered and the outcomes thereof.
A sustainable working/labour peace remains elusive – mainly between education
department and teacher organisations, compromising a firm stand by both in sanctioning a
poor professional ethic and unsatisfactory conduct across all levels of the system. This is
compounded by teacher organisations that remain ill-equipped to address the professional
development needs of teachers, and a department that has its own competency challenges.
Early Childhood Development, underpinned by quality learning and development
programmes and good nutrition, requires urgent attention
― Due to malnutrition, 20% of South African children are physically stunted before they reach
grade 1, this same pattern is manifest in the Eastern Cape
The higher education and post-school system is straight-jacketed in imitation of old
western models, and not geared to innovative responses to our developmental challenges
There is a lack of appreciation for indigenous knowledge, non-formally accredited
expertise and alternative models that can be mainstreamed in the cause of human
development – in education, in health, in the sciences of the built environment, and other
sectors (universities are culpable for perpetuating this neglect)
A poor health system and lack of vision25 compounds the difficult life-circumstances
of the poor
― 88% citizens utilise public health services in an Eastern Cape with a higher than average
incidence of ill-defined deaths26 – yet less than 100 of 1300 public health facilities meet
requirements of adequate resourcing and reasonable functionality
― There is weak integration and coordination between the political management,
administration and clinical governance of the health system – with instability and
unsatisfactory performance manifest from the provincial leadership level downwards
― The health system is also under-resourced in terms of an adequate health workforce –
numbers and quality, infrastructure, and support services
― Poor adherence and lack of inclusive implementation of the Primary Health Care (PHC) policy
also compounds the weak quality of health services provided and entrenches a hospicentric
misunderstanding of health and the health care system
25The discussion document on Health from the ECPC’s research makes the telling observation that “the Eastern
Cape Department of Health has not been able to produce a long term vision strategy for health in the province since the failedattempt of the Service Transformation Plan (STP)”
26Five out of the six districts of the province were above the national average in a 2009 analysis, with the OR
Tambo district at more than twice the national average and the Alfred Nzo district at more than three times thenational average.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 27
― The health condition of citizens is also largely influenced by factors outside of the health care
institutional scope (social determinants of health: water, sanitation services etc.), and some
diseases are the consequence of unhealthy lifestyles
― Lack of Health education from the foundational level is a also great impediment to quality,
healthy lifestyles
― There is a general weakness or absence of, as well as lack of promotion of community
participation in the local governance of health facilities and the delivery of health services
Food scarcity and poor nutrition remains a challenge for the majority of poor citizens
― 25% of citizens of the province are food insecure, with 17.3 deemed ‘food inadequate’ and
7.7% being severely food inadequate. Nutritional awareness, sufficiency and balance is an
even bigger challenge than food security, as manifest in incidences of obesity and related
imbalances
Violence and crime continue to erode the social fabric of our society
― The Eastern Cape has the second highest rate of murders and the third highest rate of
culpable homicide and sexual crimes in South Africa;
― Violent crimes against women are high – of 135 sexual offences reported per 100 000 of the
population, 95 were rapes.
The provincial strategy for human settlements should not only eliminate ‘poverty
traps’ over time, but should be in sync with a spatially balanced strategy for socio-
economic transformation
― Owing to historical design, the Eastern Cape has the most dense pattern of ill-configured rural
settlements in South Africa
― The NDP (p241) notes that shifts in settlement patterns as well as population densities of
rural regions such as the Eastern Cape are not being met with commensurate improvements
in the ‘economic base, infrastructure and governance arrangements to manage such changes’
― The NDP (p242) further decries a post-1994 model of service delivery that may have
unwittingly encouraged passivity and an inactive citizenry no longer confident in seeking own
solutions or finding ways to partner with government towards improving neighbourhoods’. In
the case of the Eastern Cape, this has also undermined confidence in identification with an
indigenous aesthetic, crowded out local expertise in design and construction, and encouraged
the proliferation of unimaginative settlements not tailored to differentiated settlement needs.
There is inadequate investment in, and attention paid to the development of sporting
and artistic excellence, especially for youth from poor and rural communities ....
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 28
Focus area 2 – Economic Opportunity & Rights By economic opportunity we are
referring to the ability of people to generate meaningful work as well as get gainful employment
(wage-employment and self-employment), plus an equitable ownership of enterprises and assets
that will provide the economic basis for human flourishing. We advocate a particular focus on
systematically building the capabilities for economic participation of presently under-educated
and unskilled young people. We also advocate a particular emphasis in innovative and
redistributive interventions that can transform the fortunes of the rural regions of the province
and re-pattern the economy of the Eastern Cape. By ‘economic rights’27 we are referring to a
basic threshold of material wherewithal for decent livelihoods.
NDP Summary ofChallenges onEconomicOpportunity
Too few people work
Spatial divides hobble inclusive development
Infrastructure is poorly located, inadequate and under-maintained
Corruption levels are high
Eastern Cape Issues on Economic Opportunity & Rights
Dominant economic sectors do not provide formal work for the low, unskilled and
undereducated who are in the majority
― 45.8% or about 1.1 million of the working-age population of the Eastern Cape is unemployed.
About 440 000 of this number are people who have given up on looking for work
Young people (15-34), at 30% of the population, make up 70% of the unemployed and
discouraged work seekers. This is about 738 000 young people without economic
opportunity and not entitled to welfare support by the state
Two thirds of the population live in underdeveloped rural areas with limited access to
services, infrastructure and economic opportunities.
― These areas of the province attract little investment especially by private sector and they lag
in key human development indicators,
27The post-1994 government has made commendable efforts to address this societal objective, most visibly
through the development of infrastructure that extends basic social amenities to all, as well as programmes suchas the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and the Community Works Programme (CWP) in the socialeconomy. Social measures such as grants can also be seen in this light, much as they are derided by some forinducing so-called ‘dependency’, or – an extreme derision that will be raised in this school of thought – ‘indolency’.The idea of economic rights and basic social entitlements is not new – it is an ages old concept that foundexpression even in ancient societies such as in the Kemitic/ Egyptian public works programmes (Obenga, 2004), aswell as in contemporary comparative initiatives such as India’s Right-to-Work programme and similar examplesfrom a number of other countries.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 29
― The potential for agricultural and rural industrial development remains under-exploited
Slow progress in land reform has retarded economic transformation in the province
Economic assets and resources such as arable land, water and an extensive coastal zone
are not effectively utilised for an inclusive economic development and decent employment
The Eastern Cape productive economy is overly dependent on the automotive industry
and needs diversification
The private sector has generally not shown high levels of commitment to the welfare of the
provincial and broader South African economy – investments from the private sector have
not matched levels of reserves it commands
Opportunities in the social economy have not been strategically exploited to leverage
inclusive and sustainable economic development, anchored upon appropriate institutional
formations such as cooperatives
The Eastern Cape has the lowest per capita investment in infrastructural stock
Infrastructure is inadequate, poorly maintained and with spatial contrasts consistent
with patterns of inequitable distribution of opportunity across the province – transport,
energy, ICT, water (even as province holds a positive water balance into long term)
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 30
Focus area 3 – Institutional Capabilities Here we refer to the individual and collective
ability, power and willingness to participate in the development process in the province bypeople as agents of their own development, actively involved in shaping their own destiny –civil society as critical champions of development and key arbiters on choices impactingsocietal livelihoods, the state as an enabler and key actor in the development effort, and theprivate sector as a committed partner in development. This representation of key agentsworking in common cause calls for the careful construction of a multi-agency partnership for thedevelopment of the province, with a particular emphasis on social agency and personalresponsibility, as well as the mobilisation, tapping into, and development of skills and talents ofall citizens in the shared project of an equitable, sustainable development of the Eastern Cape.
NDP Summary of
Challenges on Institutional
Capabilities
Public services are uneven and often of poor quality
Corruption levels are high
Eastern Cape Issues on Institutional Capabilities
The civil service of the province remains professionally weak and underperforming
across sectors and levels, characterised by weak administrative capabilities, a poor work
ethic and very weak consequence management
Systems of accountability for both public political representatives and public
officials need to be revisited and consolidated; the underpinning political determinism
in identifying political and administrative leaders needs to be sharpened to deliver
knowledgeable, effective, efficient and conscientious leaders across the spectrum of
political organisation, as well as across levels of public action
Central coordinative mechanisms to ensure integrated transversal actions across
state entities, as well as across levels are weak
There is a weak culture of, and capability for system requirements such as records
management, information systems, project management as well as monitoring and
evaluation systems, resulting in poor implementation of programmes, weak accounting, and
the lack of credible information for planning and impact assessment
Weaknesses in certain policies and legislation governing public administration, and a
general lack of standard operating procedures underpinning processes and conduct
compromise accountability for performance
Corruption continues to trouble the public sector in the province – e.g. only 22% of cases
closed against a 85% feedback rate on the National Anti Corruption Hotline; there are low
levels of investigative capacity in departments
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 31
Current approaches to planning and governance do not enable genuine public participation
by, and accountability to a capable and informed citizenry
There is generally an insignificant visibility, participation and commitment to development
and the public good by other institutional agents, especially the private corporate sector
The civil society in the province is fragmented, diverse and has no homogeneous vision
and unity of purpose. Consequently, as a collective social agency it has been peripheral in
the development process.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 32
3.2.3 The abyss if we do nothing
The following vicious cycle and abyss awaits us should the status quo continue holding into the future:
Opportunistic, self-serving demagogues and political entrepreneurs will proliferate in an
environment where there is a weak demand for committed service, rectitude and accountability
from politically-connected agents. This will grow to undermine the currency of an organised,
conscientious politics, worsen the dysfunction of the public service, and spread the tentacles of a
parasitic rentier class that will push down prospects of an inclusive, flourishing economy.
Under-educated youth will continue falling out of the education system and into unemployment
yearly, swelling the numbers of the hopeless and desperate. The economic and social malaise
that generate and contribute to, and are in turn exacerbated by this crisis, will be amplified.
Levels of social strife and related social ills will rise.
The numbers of malnourished and sick citizens will exponentially rise to levels that will implode a
health system that is already not coping well at the moment.
The hopelessly inadequate current structure of the economy, predicated as it is on an outdated
construct of urban commercial centres whose thriving was deliberately framed to be dependent
on the under-development of the rural ‘periphery’, will continue to self-reproduce, but with an
ever diminishing capacity to sustain even the urban component of the economy that it was
purportedly established to serve. Against this, a continuing failure to seriously address rural
development and alter the nature of relations between so-called ‘centre’ and ‘periphery’ in a dual
economy, will exacerbate rural-to-urban migration patterns which are no longer being managed
through colonially inspired instruments of control that are no longer in force. All this will pile
even more socio-economic stresses on urban centres that are already struggling to cope, while
continuing to erode the faith of rural populations in the promise of a substantive transformation of
rural livelihoods.
The increased migration outflows from the province will lead to an ever decreasing allocation of
equitable-share funding to the province from the national fiscus.
Against the inevitable reduction of equitable share allocation, and the lack of innovative
strategies for labour absorption that can expand an income-earning population which is key to
spurring on demand and a matching growth in economic activity, the economy of the Eastern
Cape may actually be pushed into contraction.
The public sector, which is the major employer in the province and is almost solely dependent on
national allocations, may be forced to downsize, squeezing citizens down the ladder of class, and
growing the voice of the discontented who will further disrupt social and economic peace.
The institutional weaknesses of the state, civil society and private sector may deepen the crisis
of cohesion and compromise prospects for collective pursuit of a new journey to shared
development. This may result in an even diminished ability to take advantage of opportunities for
development – both latent and overt, such as opportunities presented in new infrastructure
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Development Challenges Page| 33
investments, as well as diminished ability to mobilise national and other players for strategic
support and resourcing of the new development plan for the province.
The over-reliance of some organisations of civil society on state funding may lead to their
collapse as the public purse shrinks, or is parasitically raided to levels where it becomes less
and less capable of sustaining basic needs of society, let alone cover the cost of public service,
and critical voices in the public discourse to deepen democracy and champion development may
disappear.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 34
4. PATHWAYS TO ACTIONThis section of the document sets out some starting propositions for consideration in tackling the key
challenges summarised under 3.2.2, and towards staving off the grim scenario painted in 3.2.3 above.
Against these challenges, against related pointers to action in the NDP, as well as against strategies
and programmes of government – at all levels – and other actors in the public life of the Eastern Cape,
we move to propose for consideration, and weigh the implications of a number of pathways to action
for the Eastern Cape. The detailed plan of the province should flow from a careful consideration of
these propositions and our collective capability to factor them into the plans of institutional and social
partners upon whom a successful implementation of the plan will rest.
4.1 Principles, Assumptions and Process
With the broad aim of the ECPC process being to invite citizens of the Eastern Cape to commit to a
collective process of renewal and rebuilding by (i) taking stock of present reality, strategies, plans,
actions and mindsets, and then co-plotting as well as committing to a better future of shared action
and responsibility, and (ii) advocating a revival and re-centering of honest and realistic social
compacting as well as conscientious, accountable action, the following principles and assumptions
will underpin the generation, elaboration and consolidation of options against which choices and
pathways for action will be framed –
Social and economic justice: First, there should be a constant invoking and application of the
principle of just weight with regards to the ends of social and economic justice pursued, a
development predicated on an inclusive and redistributive imperative to address inequalities and
underlying structural features, as well as an appropriation and application of relevant models of
development. Inattention to addressing underlying causes of injustice, inclusive of structural
features that prop up power imbalances in the economic and political realms, could well
compromise the efficacy of other measures proposed through this and other interventions.
Policy and strategic alignment: Second, is the importance of aligning roadmaps with the NDP,
the country’s key national outcomes and other national policies and programmes such as the
NGP and so forth, as well as provincial and local initiatives and programmes already afoot and in
need of consolidation. Together with this will be the importance of referencing our ideas against
more global practical examples and progressive narratives on human development.
Against such imperative for alignment, however, should also be a sober appreciation of what is
possible within limits of material and other considerations, and therefore a realistic setting of
goals and targets that can be delivered against by all who commit to the project of the
sustainable development of the province into the long term. Here is one example of what we
mean by this:
Among objectives held out by the NDP on improving education, training and innovation, the
following are mandated:
all children to have at least 2 years of pre-school education
90 percent of learners in grades 3, 6 and 9 achieving at least 50% in annual national
assessments (ANA) for literacy, maths and science
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 35
between 80 – 90 percent of learners should complete 12 years of schooling and/or
vocational education, with at least 80 successfully passing the exit exams
all schools to meet minimum standards by 2016, following the eradication of infrastructure
backlogs...
If the assumption is that the first three objectives highlighted above should happen by the year
2030, and 2014 is assumed as the first year of implementation of NDP actions, then the following
linearised28 trajectory of development towards objective could be assumed for the third target,
where the current reality is that just less than 15% of learners in the Eastern Cape progress
evenly over their 12 years of schooling until exit point. If the target is now set at a minimum of
80% for 2030, the implication is that we see improvements along the following graph over the
17years to 2030:
28 This of course is too simplistic – the reality is that there are a number of preparatory actions such as teacher
preparation, teaching and learning materials development, etc., which suggest much lower rates of change/growth in theearlier years of the change process than is assumed in a linear progression.
24%
28%
31%
35%
38%
42%
45%
49%
52%
56%
59%
63%
66%
70%
73%
77%
80%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
EC Completion Targets over NDP horizon
Completion Targets (assuming even rate of change)
Yrs
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 36
The above means that we should see current completion rates doubled over the next three years
for the Eastern Cape. But this is unrealistic, just as are the other targets recounted above – we
already have a pipeline of ‘academically injured’ learners with whom we cannot achieve this
target, and there needs to be an accelerated change in efficiencies in our teaching and learning –
meaning also accelerating improvements in the capabilities of teachers, together with fast and
vast improvements in learning infrastructure and resources. It is therefore important that
partners in the development project of the Eastern Cape realistically ponder the province’s
capability in human, material and organisational resources to achieve the above targets within
the time-frame set out by the NDP, this not to unnecessarily promote any shirking of
responsibility to do all within our reasonable power to work towards the set objectives.
Balance continuity against necessary ruptures: Third, and related to the second point above
about aligning the provincial plan with policies and programmes already afoot, is the importance
of a creative balance between striving for efficiencies in the delivery and management of existing
public programmes, while seeking to establish necessary ruptures with the present logic and
trajectory of development where warranted, i.e. where current approaches and underpinning
premises as well as paradigms are not helpful in confronting crises that burden our society,
economy, politics and institutions.
Evidence-based decision: Fourth, is the importance of grounding positions adopted, and
proposed solutions against reasonable evidence – evidence of challenges and propositions that
have been properly investigated and interrogated via robust deliberative processes
Participatory, citizen-centred development: Fifth, is the idea that the long term development
planning process should promote a meaningful participation of diverse stakeholders, voices and
interests critical to shaping a reasonable consensus whose ends can then be pursued through a
shared multi-agency approach, with the state being a critical actor in this arrangement. While,the role of capable state in development is key, there are also strong arguments (the NDP itself;
Sen, 2013; Boyte, 2013) supporting the idea of an empowered and capable civil society as
important to sustainable development and an accountable citizen-centred politics that can deliver
social justice in the long term.
Accountability: Sixth, is that the framing of propositions for the future should be based on
actionable possibilities, measurable actions and clear arrangements for accountability
Insularity against irrational political whim: Seventh, is that there should be a principled
understanding that the provincial development plan should be buffeted from perturbations that
come with changes in political and administrative leadership in the province – changes
suggested to plan should thus focus on a consolidation of the plan, against its set of underlying
principles as well as vision and outcomes agreed.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 37
Complementary and convergent planning logic:
Against the foregoing, however, we also are keenly mindful of
the pressures occasioning an expectation that government
departments and other entities of the state should start
programming the designs of the NDP into their medium-term
strategies and plans for implementation from the fiscal year
2014/2015. In other words, as we work to tailor the NDP to
provincial specificities, and endeavour to mobilise to commitment
the multi-agent institutional base necessary for successful
implementation, the outcome of this process should converge
with, and consolidate medium term planning actions already
triggered within provincial departments and other state entities.
In light of this reality then, we propose that the inclusive process
of discussing and refining the propositions set out further on in
this document be developed along the following planning and
prioritisation frame that is sensitive to government planning
cycles even as it also enjoins the commitment of other non-state
institutional partners in the province’s long term development:
Human Development
Economic …
Institutional…
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
MTSF 2014-2018MTSF 2019-2023
MTSF 2024-2028MTSF 2029-2032
Cu
mu
lati
veB
un
dle
so
fStr
ate
gic
Act
ion
so
ver
MTS
MTSF 2014-2018 MTSF 2019-2023 MTSF 2024-2028 MTSF 2029-2032
Human Development 12 18 25 30
Economic Opportunity 8 15 20 25
Institutional Capabilities 8 16 22 32
Strategic development over medium-term phases
ECPC’s process of tailoring
of NDP to provincial
specificities – challenges,
potential and priorities –
must converge with, and
assist state entities’
planning processes, even as
it mobilises, plans for, and
commits multi-agent energy
to development action...
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 38
Illustrated above is the idea of crafting, implementing and monitoring the plan against a set of distinct,
time-bound – medium-term and annualised, carefully sequenced strategic actions per focus area,
against agreed outcomes and objectives. The outcomes, goals and objectives per focus area are
meant to ensure a consistency and systematic development over time, and M&E mechanisms as well
as an intelligent coordinating system should ensure that necessary revisions to consolidate the plan
and implementation process are effected as warranted.
4.2 Vision, Outcomes, Goals & Strategic Actions
In this section of the document we set out what are suggested as key priorities for the development of
the Eastern Cape into the long term, against the NDP’s core propositions. We also propose a starting
set of outcomes, goals and strategic actions for discussion and consolidation across the three areas of
focus for development. Behind the outcomes, goals and strategic actions set out below is built a detail
of implementation specifics that will also be presented and discussed with stakeholders towards a
consolidation of the provincial plan. Also indicated below is an integrated approach that is encouraged
in how we treat each of the focus areas: when we consider a vision, outcomes and actions for human
development, we need to also sketch out related strategies and actions needed across the
complementary domains of economic opportunity and institutional capabilities; similarly, we apply the
same logic to the latter two domains.
4.2.1 Preconditions to successful development planning and implementation
To reiterate, the following are among the more important preconditions to a successful development of
a provincial plan that can garner the commitment of the critical majority of social and economic agents
and institutions important to its successful implementation:
Citizen-centred focus: First, should be a conscious realisation by all that the primary purpose
of development action is to address the well-being of citizens. Against this therefore, should be
a serious commitment to developing the capability of citizens through education and training, as
well as other means. This is in order to ensure that the primary responsibility for development
action is led and carried by citizens in their individual and collective capacity. Over and above
this commitment, however, there should also be a more serious commitment to the cultivation of
a culture of service and respect for citizens by capable development practitioners and public
servants. It is only such disposition on the part of the latter that can encourage trust, healthier
relations between state, development practitioners and citizens, and therefore a better chance
for the realisation of development outcomes.
Capable, integrated state action: Second, should be a commitment to integrated planning
and action on agreed priorities, especially by government departments that are notorious for a
silo orientation – provincial as well as national departments participating in or supporting
development action in the province. Such integration needs to be clear in plans, the allocation
and utilisation of resources, the assignment of responsibility and accountability-tracking
measures. At the national level, there also needs to be a new commitment to confront the drift
of uneven development that has continued post-1994 – among other actions, there needs to be
a willingness to revisit policies and the allocation of resources to enable under-developed
regions such as the Eastern Cape to catch up.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 39
Against the foregoing, should be a commitment to improving the capabilities and performance of
departments and state institutions, as well as officials key to the implementation of the plan.
Such improvements should see positive shifts in technical competencies, inclusive of a
preference for meritoriously capable mandarins, the promoting of a commitment to conscientious
service, as well as renewed commitment and measures to confront corruption in the civil service
and the collusion thereto by a corrupt private sector. It is only after the establishment of the
functional capability briefly alluded to here that we can perhaps more seriously entreat
aspirations to being a developmental state. Anything less than seriously working to first attain
such capacity threshold is tantamount to diversionary rhetoric.
Multi-agent compact for development: Fourth, should be a commitment to embracing the
utility of, building the institutional capabilities and related instrumentalities of, as well as
positioning a developmental agency extending beyond the confines of government alone – the
idea of an organised citizen-centric multi-agency for development action.
4.2.2 Key Priorities for Province
The NDP highlights education and job creation as key building blocks for the long term development of
South Africa. We also are in agreement with the NDP’s position, but go further to establish the
following set of priorities as pivotal to consider for the development of the Eastern Cape: (i) an
improvement of education, (ii) job creation, (iii) a more serious drive to transform and develop our rural
regions as a key to boosting the economic performance of the province as a whole, and (iv) a
commitment to improving the functionality and efficiency of the public system towards enabling the key
priorities and other desired outcomes. We briefly motivate these in turn below, and then further on
provide a summary on outcomes, goals and strategic actions to be considered around these:
(i) Improvement of education: Singling out education as being of particular high priority stems
from a well-established acknowledgement of its multiple benefits to society – in contributing to
general well-being, inclusive of holistic, healthy livelihoods and relationships; in advancing an
educated and informed citizenry capable of independent initiative; in boosting capabilities for
innovation across all organs of society – public and private; in promoting capable and productive
participation in the economy by citizens as professionals, workers and independent economic
agents; in enhancing the capabilities of state and other public institutions, inclusive of non-state
community development organisations; in deepening democratic sensibilities in society, and in
advancing a demand for, and an orientation towards equality in human and material terms.
(ii) Redistributive Economic Growth, Economic Independence & Job Creation: We reaffirm the
NDP’s high prioritisation of jobs to address unemployment and poverty. Of importance to
ensuring a sustainability of gains made in tackling these two challenges, however, should also be
a commitment to pushing for a redistributive participation and more inclusive ownership
patterns in the economy. This also is about decisively addressing an important third related
socio-economic challenge – inequality. In the case of an under-developed and relatively
uncrowded regional economy such as the Eastern Cape, with its natural and especially
agricultural potential, the opportunities to introduce more players into the economy through a
number of state-incentivised, or even state-led initiatives is higher than in a more crowded
economy. And so too are multiplier potentials. The job creation imperative behoves the province
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 40
to therefore adopt more creative strategies to address not only the crisis of urban poverty and
unemployment, but, perhaps even more importantly – the transformation and development of the
rural economy as a critical stepping stone to a thriving, integrated and inclusive economy of the
Eastern Cape.
(iii) Rural development: A concerted, integrated and well-resourced focus on rural development
offers the greatest hope of realising real material progress for the province into the long term.
This requires inter alia –
― decisive steps towards addressing land reform and tenure that is in keeping with the
commitment to redress and democratisation by the new state29;
― a greater urgency to develop agriculture and rural industrialisation, as well as establish
sustainable linkages across spatialised nodes of the economy – villages, small towns,
secondary towns, cities and metros30. Such linkages should also aggressively address the
under-developing effects of an inherited dual economy;
― a clear commitment to prioritising and empowering womenfolk as the predominant motive
force for rural development – they have after all been the main pillar that has held rural
communities together as these were turned into depressed labour reserves over the epochs
of colonialism and apartheid that saw the greatest disruption of communities, the scattering
of men through the migrant labour system, and other related systematic attacks on the social
cohesion of particularly black citizens.
The social empowerment project to go with the proposed reconstruction should thus also
include a commitment to systematic and sustained conversations and other actions
dedicated to a critical cultural renewal of our society. Such conversations should not shy
away for instance from, among others, a critical re-evaluation of ideas held around gender, a
redefinition and reconstruction of relationships oriented towards promoting equality and
social cohesion, and a dedicated rebuilding of
institutions that sustain communities.
(iv) Improving functionality of state andempowering civil society: The state looms large
in the public life of the Eastern Cape and is
expected to be a key driver of development. In
order for this to happen effectively, however, the
state requires a certain level of institutional
capability to lead such development, and due
attention should be paid to building such
capability. This will include paying attention to
improving meritorious selection processes in
identifying leaders and civil servants, as well as
improved controls to curb malfeasance and corruption.
29This task may largely fall in the domain of the national Department of Rural Development & Land Reform,
but the province needs to adopt a more proactive stance, including facilitating the necessary consensus amongkey regional role-players – communities, traditional leadership and private landholders where warranted.30
A careful construction of these linkages should extend to strategic economic relations across provinces.
A capable functional state,
working in sync across sectors
and levels, and collaborating with
extra-governmental institutional
partners, are key to a successful
implementation of the provincial
2030 Plan...
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 41
At the same time, however, it needs to be acknowledged that, even if the advocated
improvements were to happen, the state may not be tooled to lead certain initiatives and
processes critical to the public development project. Relevant institutional partners – quasi-
public and even private, need to be mobilised, empowered and positioned to play their role in
the development process, and serious attention should particularly be paid to quasi-public
development agents organised around, embedded in, and accountable to communities.
4.2.3 Summary of development actions for prioritisation
Extending the above, and against the framework of the three focal areas of human development,
economic opportunity and institutional capabilities (colour-coded per graphic of conceptual framework introduced
in 3.1.2), it is further proposed that the long term plan of the province embrace the outcomes, goals and
strategic actions selected for prioritisation in the table presented below. While the presentation in the
table is organised along distinct outcomes under the three focal areas, it is important to read these in
an integrated fashion, given their inter-dependencies.
In the annex accompanying this document, the following presentation is expanded to include otherrelevant goals and actions. The detailed plan of the province to build on this ‘Strategic Perspective &
Propositions’ document will further develop the strategic actions propositioned and discussed with
stakeholders into time-bound specific actions, with set milestones over a short, medium and long-term
frames.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 42
DevelopmentOutcomes
Summary of Priority Goals and Strategic Actions
(expanded and elaborated further in annex to this document)
Key Agents and Contributors
Quality Education &
Training:
Need for consensus onpriorities for EC Vision2030, aligned with NDPand complementary toSchooling 2025 vision aswell as HumanResources DevelopmentStrategy 2010-2030
Co-operative governance of education at rationalised educationdistricts as key points of delivery, management, support andaccountability – District Education Boards or equivalent proposed inorder to enhance local decisions and accountability, with devolution ofsubstantive authority, plus strong representation from capable civilsociety
Strong, representative district offices as maindrivers
Rationalised provincial office for resourceallocation, support and M&E
Mainstreamed ECD with trained staff, and state-guaranteed,quality assured nutritional security for young children, to ensuresolid foundation for development
ECD centres articulating with schools
Support from Department of Education, SocialDevelopment and others
Curriculum innovation and improvement, as well as systematicdevelopment of quality teachers and learning resources to –
― improve learning outcomes through grades 1 - 12
― mainstream mother tongue in the primary phase31
Universities to drive re-curriculation, teacherdevelopment and professional credentialing
Teacher-driven professional development/ supportprogramme (universities to collaborate)
Department of Education curriculum professionals
Society-wide campaign and systematic enculturation of readingand writing to encourage and support learners at school and inhomes, while also enhancing other community life-endeavours tobenefit from a reading, informed citizenry
Public adult learning centres (PALCs), ABET centresand Community Colleges
Knowledge, skills and organisation for community-basedproduction for food and nutrition security, plus income-generation through supplying School Nutrition Programme andother social programmes (Health, Social Development, etc.)
FETs, community colleges and cooperativesagencies lead skills and organisation development
Provincial agency/unit to manage production andlogistics in support of community producers
31Currently, only a few universities have shown serious interest in addressing mother-tongue teaching and learning in their teacher education programmes. While
the debate on language-of-instruction rages, and protagonists shoot off prejudices, sometimes dressed up in ignorant eloquence, recent research into the effects ofmother-tongue teaching in the foundation phase across South African schools has provided empirical confirmation of better learning outcomes that trump themainstreaming of English from grade 1. (see ‘Estimating the impact of language of instruction in South African primary schools: A fixed effects approach, Taylor &Coetzee, 2013’)
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 43
DevelopmentOutcomes
Summary of Priority Goals and Strategic Actions
(expanded and elaborated further in annex to this document)
Key Agents and Contributors
Schools and other educational centres of excellence (CoEs),inclusive of Historical Schools and other relevant models ofcollaboration between government and civil society initiative 32
Local leaders of schools and other centres, withlocally accountable governance structures
Supporting organisations and departments
32Having carefully weighed the debate and the evidence, the ECPC advocates citizen-centred, publicly accountable centres of excellence than the contentious
American inspired model of ‘charter’ schools that some are now strongly advocating for adoption by the South African government (see The Missing Sector – ContractSchools: International experience and South African prospects, Centre for Development & Enterprise 2013). The charter schools approach has come in for heavycriticism for its privatisation-of-education effects, even by former proponents in the USA who had initially championed it enthusiastically. The evidence on itssuccesses is patchy, while its threat to harm a public education system such as South Africa’s is feared to be even potentially graver than the grief it has occasioned inthe American public education system. Against this, the Eastern Cape presents an additional different scale of challenge – an under-developed, infrastructurallyunder-resourced schooling sector located in economically deprived rural regions that hold little attraction for the entrepreneurial class behind the private schoolingmovement. Little wonder therefore that, as private schooling continues to grow in urban regions, there is no reach of such in the rurally deprived regions of theEastern Cape. Its establishment would thus likely depend solely on the state’s budget, with doubtable investment from a private sector currently loathe to invest ineven traditional commercial enterprise in the rural regions of the province.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 44
DevelopmentOutcomes
Summary of Priority Goals and Strategic Actions
(expanded and elaborated further in annex to this document)
Key Agents and Contributors
Equitable andinclusive spatial andeconomicdevelopment:
Important references inaddition to the NDPinclude the NationalGrowth Path (NGP),Industrial Policy ActionPlan (IPAP) and strategydocuments on ruraldevelopment
Comprehensive rural socio-economic development, anchored on -
― investment in new and adaptive R&D on technologies,knowledge and organisation to underpin sustainableproductivity of rural regions
― a careful determination of competitive advantage acrossareas, and actions to build economic activity around these
― massive investments in infrastructure in rural regions toboost socio-economic development: The building andmaintenance of infrastructure through the public budget, inclusive ofthe expansion of targeted small and secondary towns into seriousrural development hubs, should be meant to also drive theestablishment of self-sustaining social enterprise in ruralcommunities, over and above the current predominant practice ofcreating ‘once-off’, ‘disappearing’ jobs
― AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION and trade, built on a balancingof, and reciprocal relations across scale (small-scale to large-scale commercial agriculture) and agents (private and public), aswell as co-enabling value-chains – primary, agro-processing,auxiliary industry, logistics and re-stimulated markets ,inclusive of public sector markets
― enabling institutional platforms – for capacity-building, R&D,local organisation development and support, linkagesfacilitation (including market networks), etc.
Strengthened Eastern Cape Rural DevelopmentAgency (ECRDA) as lead provincial coordinatingagent – delinked from single department in order to playreal integrative role across state and collaboratinginstitutions. ECRDA should have much a more significantbudget allocation direct from National Treasury; plusstrong budgeted links with collaborating research andlearning institutions plus local development agencies
Department of Public Works as integrative anchorfor publicly-funded infrastructural developmentsacross sectors and departments. The departmentshould also drive an expanded social economy of localagents through related reforms in public procurement –coordinative instruments to be strengthened, withdedicated sub-units collaborating with localised agents(also applies to urban development)
Local development support institutions and localmulti-agency collaborative for capacity-building,etc adaptation of Local Action Group concept
Established business, as co-enabling investors andbeneficiaries
Public learning and research institutions fortraining, R&D and development facilitation
Improved spatial integration of urban economy, plus necessaryinfrastructure, against re-imagined and improved settlements –
towards expansion of industrial production and related economic activity– trade, logistics and services – in metros, urban & peri-urban centres
Lead collaborators for infrastructure to catalyseprivate investment = Departments of Public Works,Human Settlements and Economic Development
Private sector = main drivers and investors
Relevant national departments
Inter-provincial (especially KZN and Western Cape), and public-private partnerships – around projects identified for strategiccollaboration (infrastructure, new industries and products)
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 45
DevelopmentOutcomes
Summary of Priority Goals and Strategic Actions
(expanded and elaborated further in annex to this document)
Key Agents and Contributors
Tourism development, across urban & targeted rural areas, toembrace heritage and sports tourism
Multi-agent, citizen-centred partnershipfor development:
Provincial policy framework, the promotion of a consciousnessfor, as well as the operationalisation of joint stewardship of amulti-agency partnership for people-centred development,manifest in –
― supportive frameworks for community-driven, politically andbureaucratically unencumbered initiatives
― chapters and implementing arms of the multi-agency for citizen-centred partnership for development across sectors and spheres,underpinned by relevant compacts, formal agreements andresources
― re-developed methodologies and instruments to foster citizen-centred ethos and orientation in the planning, implementation,monitoring and review of plans across spheres and entities
― systematised processes for continuous critical reflection frompractice (policy learning) on appropriateness of developmentparadigms and trajectories pursued by country and province
Provincial leadership of ruling party and keypolitical organisations as leading force to championdesirable policy and organisational re-orientations,as well as mobilise civic agency
National political leaders key to supportingdesirable policy changes
Representative social groupings and constituentbodies – faith-based organisations, traditionalinstitutions, etc, as important partners to mobilisecivic agency and co-shoulder responsibility fordevelopment
Local government
Local development-facilitation and supportstructures and organisations
Citizens participating in own-development andgovernance endeavours Capabilities at provincial government level – for improved
performance and management of development processes at alllevels and across institutional collaborators
Capabilities for strong local government – accompanied by therequisite delegation of functions and powers for accelerateddevelopment, inclusive of strategic rationalisations fromprovincial offices towards re-locating capacity closer to points ofdelivery
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 46
DevelopmentOutcomes
Summary of Priority Goals and Strategic Actions
(expanded and elaborated further in annex to this document)
Key Agents and Contributors
Capabilities at local level for community-based planning,implementation and monitoring – among citizens, local politicians,public sector functionaries and citizen-driven entities, inclusive oftraditional leadership structure
Quality Health: Improved integrated Health Care System, articulated acrosslevels – primary, secondary and tertiary, with –
― investments in infrastructure (complimented by other socialinfrastructure investments) to particularly improve district levelhealth care facilities in underserved rural areas and townships
― improved health system leadership and administrative efficiency,with focused capacity-strengthening at district and sub-district levels
― investments in education and training (at WSU and partnerinstitutions) to expand the numbers and improve the quality ofhealth care professionals across all levels of the system – fromspecialists at the top, down to community health care workers
― learning, information and related programmes for systematiccommunity empowerment, underpinned by relevant healthknowledge and the provision of appropriate resources forcommunities to be effective partners in promoting positive healthcare environments
Provincial Department of Health as lead agent
National Department of Health as lead collaborator
Department of Higher Education as keycollaborator for education, training and capacity-building
Walter Sisulu University to lead higher educationand post-school programmes
Schools and local institutions
Community-based health development agents,inclusive of Community Health Workers
Citizens
Improved consciousness for health, manifest in –
― health-affecting outcomes and strategies embedded in allgovernment policies and programmes – an ubiquitous ‘healthfootprint’ in education, in economic development, in settlements andinfrastructure planning, in sports and recreation
― a general consciousness and habit for healthy lifestyles
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Pathways to Action Page| 47
DevelopmentOutcomes
Summary of Priority Goals and Strategic Actions
(expanded and elaborated further in annex to this document)
Key Agents and Contributors
Provincial Health Civic Education Campaign –
― embedded in school curricula and extra-curricular activities
― through post-school health education for out-of-school youth andcitizens, as well as other popular community education, informationand development programmes
Also critical to consider in underpinning a number of development priorities as listed above, is the idea of appropriate quality, integrated
human settlements as one important development outcome. This matter will be addressed with participants in the ECPC’s planning
process, as part of the writing up of the actual development plan of the province. So too will other contributory outcomes such as sports,
the arts and other creative endeavours.
The presentation in the annex to this document, ‘ECPC Vision 2030 Outcomes, Goals and Strategic Actions’, provides further detail on
the above summary of critical actions against outcomes, goals and objectives developed along the three focus areas.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | Conclusion Page| 48
5. CONCLUSION
This document has been developed out of a number of inputs from various working groups of the
Eastern Cape Planning Commission (ECPC). Against the National Development Plan (NDP) as
principal guide on key points of concern and strategy, the working groups of the ECPC have
conducted research and analyses, engaged many stakeholders to solicit concerns and opinions, and
put together detailed reports on not only an analysis of the condition of the province and key
development challenges facing us, but also on propositions that have been put forward as a basis for
developing the detailed long term development plan of the Eastern Cape. We hope that this
document does reasonable justice in reflecting inputs made by the public and stakeholders that the
ECPC has engaged with, even as we still put it out with the intention of inviting a critical interrogation
of how these inputs have been captured. At the same time, the document is put out with a view to
inviting further input towards a consolidation of the propositions it puts forth.
A couple of critical challenges loom large for the Eastern Cape, as summarised in this document.
They mainly boil down to firstly the historical – in the form of an underdeveloped, largely rural province
lagging in all manner of indicators of human and economic development. Secondly, however, the
challenges of the province also significantly owe themselves to a post-1994 political and bureaucratic
culture struggling to establish a cogent, pro-development mindset. This is manifest in, among others,
the challenged leadership capabilities of government from provincial to local government level, in
friction between logical political allies, in sometimes uncommitted professional behaviour, but also in
acts of plain malfeasance and corruption. A common refrain across many stakeholders engaged by
the ECPC is a lament on the debilitation to civic agency and even bureaucratic efficiency that has
been wrought by a government-centric and rent-seeking politics that tends to dominate public life in
the province.
Key propositions put forward towards a better and prosperous future for the province, departing from a
principled commitment to social and economic justice, have therefore centred around calls for a
renewed focus by government, citizens and all stakeholders on turning around the fortunes and
livelihood of especially rural citizens of the Eastern Cape, on improving education and its promise for a
whole lot of other life-endeavours, on getting governance right, and on establishing a truly cooperative
agency for development that conjoins government, civil society and other partners.
The next stage of the ECPC planning process will be to now take the propositions presented in this
document and elaborate them into a detailed long term Provincial Vision 2030 Plan that complements
the designs of the NDP.
ECPC Strategic Perspective Towards Vision 2030 | References Page| 49
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