A recent "Money Talk" article by Matthew Lester stated some very pertinent facts about the so-called National Development Plan by Trevor Manuel.

1. By 2030 - all the current politicians will be in retirement - good one Manuel - again we cannot hold any of you accountable.
   

   

   All a load of Hot Air?

2. 11 million new jobs at a growth rate of 5% plus - we haven't seen those rates since the glory days pre 2007 and are unlikely to see them for at least the next 10 years. Our illustrious Finance Minister Gordhan says our growth rates will be determined by the world economy and as Lester points out - "that's in tatters."
3. 2 million of the new jobs must come from Public Works - double what is there at the moment!!
4. The NDP also calls for wage subsidies - whilst the Unions do not agree at this stage with that concept - the article confirms this will result in more delays in implementation of this plan. But more importantly how on earth will this tiny social country be able to finance these subsidies? We already have +- 30m people on social benefits from a tax base of some 5-6m tax payers - unemployment is rising out of this small base so the fairytale of the goose that layed the golden eggs is a lot more pertinent.
5. All of this points to tax rates that must rise - so beware gooses you might have to return to the wild to survive!!

This looks rather like another un-implementable pie-in-the-sky "dream" by the Government, and we will now waste another few million Rand's worth of taxpayers money debating and discussing this for a year or two.
Watch this become the govt's golden sceptre for the run-up to 2014 elections.