1996 - National Treasury

2-6
• investing in people through education and training;
• creating employment in the context of a competitive,
rapidly growing economy;
• investing in household, social and economic
infrastructure;
• preventing crime;
• improving social security provision to eliminate
absolute poverty; and
• ensuring an efficient and effective public service.
The design of the Growth and Development Strategy
requires a high level of cooperation between national
departments and between the various tiers of government.
This has been facilitated by the Forum for Effective Planning
and Development which has established collaboration
between the central and provincial governments on development
planning. The integration of departmental programmes
and further elaboration of the roles of national, provincial
and local authorities in the evolution of this long-term
planning framework will continue during 1996.
2.2.2 The Office of the RDP in the Office of the
President
In 1995/96, the work of the RDP Office in the Office of the
President continued to be focused on facilitating new
strategies in departments, supported through the RDP Fund,
together with promotion of policy coordination and
strengthening of strategic and development planning in
departments, provinces and the government as a whole.
The efforts of the RDP Office to foster integrated policy
development led to the formation of inter-departmental task
teams on Urban and Rural Development and, in October
1995, to the gazetting of strategies in these areas for
discussion. An inter-departmental team is taking these
strategies further by elaborating a framework for municipal
infrastructure development, which will include targets and
standards for household infrastructure. A National Spatial
Development Framework is also in preparation.
The RDP Office is also working with other departments on
a strategy for local economic development. Affected departments
are working on the development of single-channel
funding for local infrastructure and on improving capacity for
project design and management.
In January 1996, the RDP Office published a study of
poverty in South Africa. This study identifies the very low
share of national consumption by poor households as a
serious limitation on economic growth and on the provision
of services. It also provides important insights into the
potential for improving the quality of life of the poorest South
Africans and sets a base-line for assessing the achieve-
ments of the Growth and Development Strategy in raising
living standards.
2.2.3 The RDP Fund
In 1996/97, the national government's contribution to the
RDP Fund will rise to R7,5 billion, in addition to
commitments carried over from 1994/95 and 1995/96. The
total amount set aside for this component of the budget up
to 1996/97 comes to R15 billion. The RDP Fund
accordingly represents a large part of the Government's
investment in development and the elimination of poverty.
Increasingly, it will move from efforts to accelerate delivery
on individual projects to programmes that seek to transform
the public sector and establish major development
programmes. The reprioritising of departmental and provincial
resources away from existing programmes to new
development priorities is slower than expected, but this has
in part been the consequence of the need to develop
strategic planning in departments.
Grants totalling R132.7 million from foreign donors were
committed to projects falling within the aims of the RDP by
the end of 1995, facilitated by the coordination efforts of an
interdepartmental committee responsible for assessing
official development assistance offered to South Africa (see
par. 2.9.5.3). Programmes have been developed for the
utilisation of the grants available from major donors and
these are awaiting approval by the respective governments.
2.2.4 RDP projects
RDP Fund initiatives currently include the following multiyear
projects:
300 water supply projects that will reach 3,5 million
people who previously had no access to clean
running water,
• municipal and bulk infrastructure projects to benefit
over 3 million people;
• the primary school nutrition programme, targeted at
some 5 million children;
• free health care programmes for pregnant women,
mothers and children;
• the provision of land, under land restitution,
redistribution and reform programmes, to low-income
rural families;
• the creation of temporary jobs through almost 400
labour-intensive projects;
• the improvement and renovation of almost 3 000
schools; and
• a series of special integrated urban renewal
programmes.