Document: NPC: National Development Plan Vision for 2030

South Africa can eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030. It will require change, hard work, leadership and unity. Our goal is to improve the life chances of all South Africans, but particularly those young people who presently live in poverty. 

The plan asks for a major change in how we go about our lives. In the past, we expected government to do things for us. What South Africa needs is for all of us to be active citizens and to work together – government, business, communities – so that people have what they need to live the lives they would like.

A government that works well doesn’t just deliver more houses. It does more than that. It makes it  possible for people to build or buy their own houses. This can be through earnings from work, savings, borrowing from the bank, family networks or government subsidies. Government can build schools, but it  can’t make children go to school and study hard. It needs parents and teachers to do that. Getting this right is much more difficult than building houses or schools. This means we have to look at things differently, and behave differently.