All quiet on the NDP front

During last week's state of the nation address, President Jacob Zuma barely mentioned the National Development Plan.

This is a blueprint for change drawn up over many years by former finance minister Trevor Manuel's National Planning Commission that is supposed to kick-start economic growth.

Presidential adviser Sandile Zungu says this is deeply worrying.

"The fact that the NDP is sliding down the scale in terms of importance is a matter of huge concern for business because, in the NDP, we have a blueprint that has specific targets across all areas of endeavour, from education to healthcare to employment creation to economic growth," he says.

Zungu says this is all the more concerning because the plan is a vision that "we have all been dreaming of for a very long time".

So does he think Zuma's silence about the plan is a reflection of ideological divisions in government - a pertinent issue, since the plan has been slammed by the ANC's alliance partners, Cosatu and the SACP?

"That is too early to call," says Zungu.

But he adds that he "genuinely believes" that Zuma himself is "serious" about the plan.

However, business leaders, with few exceptions, have been reluctant to hold the government to account publicly. Is this because of the patronage network and a fear that in being overly critical they will hurt their business interests?

Zungu responds: "We talk truth to power and we engage with government on an ongoing basis, and we express our views as strongly as we can.

"But government is government and the matter of decorum in the way we engage is very important. As black business, we most certainly do not want government to feel under siege. Because when people feel under siege and they have a lot of power, they withdraw into a laager and that is not helpful to anybody."

He says the preference of business leaders is to express criticism of government in a manner that is "constructive".

"At the end of the day, we have a constituency that wants to contribute and at the same time wants to benefit," says Zungu.