In this podcast, Jakkie Cilliers, Executive Director of the Institute for Security Studies looks at South Africa’s economic plans through his research on the country’s draft National Development Plan. He speaks to SAIIA’s Chief Executive, Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, about his findings and what it reveals about the future of SA’s economic strategy.
Click on the video above to watch the interview, or click here to download the audio podcast version on Podhoster.
She asked him:
- Can you summarise what your research is saying about the policy choices facing South Africa?
- Most of South Africa’s commercial engagement with major emerging powers has been focused on beneficiation, linked to the manufacturing sector. But your report, and the National Development Plan itself, both indicate that manufacturing will play a declining role in the South African economy — wage costs are too high, and skills are too low. Given this, what should in fact be South Africa’s economy strategy?
- South Africa continues to position itself as a ‘gateway’ to Africa for emerging powers around the world. But your projections indicate that South Africa’s growth over the next decades will in fact be far slower than other countries on the continent. What does this ‘rise of the rest’ mean for how South Africa positions itself?
- Finally, we have seen some resistance recently to the National Development Plan from labour and other quarters. What do you think the prospects are for the Plan?
This is number 17 in a series of video interviews by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).
Related materials
Highway or byway? The National Development Plan 2030, paper by Jakkie Cilliers and Hanna Camp, ISS, July 2013
Video © Chevon Erasmus Porter, Riona Judge McCormack/SAIIA
