Economic Growth in South Africa Essay

1. Strategic Priority 1: Economic Growth and Job Creation. 2. Strategic Priority 2: Massive programme to build economic and social infrastructure. 3. Strategic Priority 3: Rural Development 4. Strategic Priority 4: Education 5. Strategic Priority 5: Health Question Number 2 * Priority 1- Factors beyond the control of policy-makers and stakeholders in South Africa have a big impact on the environment for growth and job creation, and it is difficult to measure achievements by outcomes only. Vulnerability to a weak and volatile global economy remains a significant challenge to job creation, although the recent depreciation of the rand may have helped to protect some jobs in export sectors. * Priority 2- Only 68% of money intended for large infrastructure projects had been spent in the last financial year. This amounts to R178-billion of the allocated R260-billion. Municipalities especially have battled to attract managers with the right skills as well as the requisite technical experts to run the projects. * Priority 3- The department has implemented the CRDP in 21 sites throughout South Africa and aims to roll this out to 160 sites by 2014. Lessons learnt from these CRDP sites indicate that the challenges in rural areas include: * underutilisation and/or unsustainable use of natural resources * poor or lack of access to socio-economic and cultural infrastructure and services, public amenities and facilities and government services * lack of access to clean water or lack of water resources for both household and agricultural development * low literacy, skills levels and migratory labour practices * decay of the social fabric * unexploited opportunities in agriculture, tourism, mining and manufacturing. * Priority 4- Nearly 70% of all South Africans are under the age of 35. Government, through the Department of Higher Education and Training, developed a strategy to increase the ratio of young people that are in education, employment or training by 2014/15. The aim of this strategy is to strengthen the capacity of the education and training system to provide pivotal programmes to a growing number of young post-school learners as well as adults at turning points in their careers. * Priority 5- Several areas of progress have been identified, especially in terms of reducing the effect of childhood illnesses. Improving immunisation coverage ranks high among renowned strategies for improving child health. Immunisation campaigns have been markedly successful in preventable diseases, including polio and measles. Carefully planned and systemic interventions, based on the Negotiated Service Delivery Agreement objectives, have been adopted for child health. Question Number 3 * Priority 1-The main objective is to respond appropriately, promptly and effectively so that growth in decent employment and improvements in income security are reinforced, and investment sustained to build up national economic capability and improve industrial competitiveness. * Priority 2 – Poor infrastructure and poor access to basic services are a result of weak and under-resourced rural local government, as well as a lack of coordination between all the departments involved in service delivery in rural areas. Essential services are also generally less available and of poorer quality in rural areas, rendering these places unattractive for people to live and work. As a result, manypeople in the economically active age group migrate, and the rural economy stagnates. * Priority 3-Between 10 and 15 million South Africans live in areas that are characterised by extreme poverty and underdevelopment. Recognising the diversity of our rural areas, the overall objective is to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy of rural development that will be aimed at improving the quality of life of rural households, enhancing the country’s food security through a broader base of agricultural production, and exploiting the varied economic potential that each region of the country enjoys. * Priority 4-The objective is to focus skills and education system towards the delivery of quality outcomes. The focus will be on, amongst others, learner outcomes, early childhood development (ECD), improving schools management and M&E systems and supporting and developing a high quality teaching profession * Priority 5- Government’s priority is to improve the health status of the entire population and contribute to the vision of a long and healthy life for all South Africans. To accomplish this vision, government has identified four strategic outputs which the health sector must achieve. These are: * increasing life expectancy * decreasing maternal and child mortality   * combating HIV and AIDS and decreasing the burden of tuberculosis (TB) * strengthening health-system effectiveness. Question Number 4 * Priority 1- The government has pursued trade liberalization and privatization as part of its attempts to overcome constraints on growth. In his budget speech for 2011–12, on February 23, 2011, the South African Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan called the budget an attempt to generate growth and a high quality of life for all South Africans. * Priority 2- In the period ahead, government will continue with the investment programme aimed at expanding and improving social and economic infrastructure to increase access, quality and reliability of public services and to support economic activities while also considering environmental sustainability and pursuing maximum employment impact. * Priority 3- The aim is to ensure sustained investment growth over the medium-term so as to achieve the target of a fixed investment ratio above 25% of GDP by 2014. Such projects will be spatially-referenced, planned for and implemented in an integrated manner. In addition, we will continue with programmes to provide and maintain health, education, library, sporting, recreation and other social infrastructure. * Priority 4- Education has enjoyed the largest share of the national budget throughout the past 15 years. This significant investment in building human capital and capabilities has gradually improved the country’s human resource and skills base. However, progress has not been optimal and the achievements have not taken place on the required scale. * Priority 5- Elements of our strategy include the phasing in of a National Health Insurance system over the next five years and increasing institutional capacities to deliver health-system functions and initiate major structural reforms to improve the management of health services at all levels of healthcare delivery, including particularly hospitals. Question Number 5 * Priority 1- almost 60 000 jobs created by the Department of Trade and Industry’s support and incentive programmes in 2010/11. Also a rural youth-employment programme, has created 7 500 jobs. * Priority 2- The number of passengers accommodated at national airports grew from 16,8 million in 2008/09 to 18,3 million in 2011/12, at an average annual rate of 3%, and is expected to grow to 23 million in 2014/15 at a rate of 7,7%. The number of aircraft landing at airports throughout South Africa increased from 279 515 in 2008/09 to 290 648 in 2011/12, at an average annual rate of 1% and is expected to increase to 340 285 in 2014/15, growing at an average annual rate of 5,7%. * Priority 3- The Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) has been developed as a multi sectoral response to the challenge of rural development, addressing basic human needs, as well as the provision of social and economic infrastructure and the development of small and medium enterprises, using an agri-village model. Under the agri-village model, housing, sanitation, health, education and other basic services are provided to an agricultural village. In addition, there should be sustainable agriculture-related income-generating activities in the village. A participatory needs analysis is undertaken involving rural people and different sectors.The programme is being implemented as a pilot programme. By 2011 it had covered 80 of a 2012 target of 160 wards across the country. Furthermore, 1 300 household gardens and cooperatives have been established. * Priority 4- In 2011, the national Grade 12 pass rate was 70,2%, compared to 67,8% the previous year. The national Department of Basic Education set aside R8 billion over a period of three years to replace mud and inappropriate structures and 119 new schools were completed in 2010 as multi-year projects. In the 2011/12 financial year, over 3 322 students were supported with bursaries to study at Higher Education and Further Education and Training (FET) institutions. Through the Human Resource Development Council initiatives, 90 FET college lecturers were trained at the universities of Fort Hare, Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan. * Priority 5- Over 2 100 individual infrastructure-related projects exist in health facilities in South Africa – ranging from maintenance and minor repairs to renovation and major construction works. As a result, 138 clinics and 38 community health centres were constructed nationally (an increase of 4% in the total number of PHC facilities in South Africa). .