ZAMBIA'S DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES AND CHALLENGES
2.1 The Boom Period 38
2.1.1 Post-Independence Development Planning
2.1.1.2 Zambia's Development Plans
Key among the post-independence development programmes, as noted above, are the Transitional Development Plan and the First National Development Plan. As indicated in Table 2.1 below, from independence to date, Zambia has designed and implemented five41 national development plans and two transitional development plans. As Table 2.1 below shows, there have been gaps between some of
This strategy was ruthlessly implemented mainly in South Africa where a double strategy of dispossession and ploretarianization was implemented simultaneously (see Wolpe, 1972; Legassk, 1972).
41 Four plans because the Fifth National Development Plan was just finalized in 2006 and it is currently being implemented.
What is interesting to note is the fact that the country reverted back to the notion of national development planning after taking a holiday from serious national planning for more than 10 years. In fact both theTNDP and FrNDP were not implemented in any serious way as we shall see later. However, they were designed as national policy on development.
Fraser points out that the re-introduction of the development planning system is was a reflection of the felt lack of order and structures to guide investments and public policy (2007:28).
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the development plans. For instance, from 1970 when the FNDP ended, there was a two-year period before the SNDP was formulated. Similarly, there are gaps between 1981 and 1989 when the FrNDP was formulated, and also between 1993 and 2002 when the second transitional development plan was launched. Some of these gaps are indicators of turning points or paradigm shifts that have occurred in the development approach in the country.
Table 2.1 National Development Plans 1965-2006 Plan Name
Transitional Development Plan (TDP) First National Development Plan (FNDP) Second National Development Plan (SNDP) Third National Development Plan (TNDP) Fourth National Development Plan (FrNDP) Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP) Fifth National Development Plan (FfNDP)
Start 1965 1966 1972 1977 1989 2002 2006
End 1966 1970 1976 1981 1993 2005 2011
S o u r c e : Compiled by Author
Within the period that I am referring to as the boom period, two development plans were implemented:
the Transitional Development Plan and the First National Development Plan.
2.1.2 Transitional Development Plan (TDP)
TDP, as the name suggest, was meant to provide guidance to the new government on how to deal with the development problems inherited from the colonial administration. TDP identified four main priorities namely, mobilizing government revenue, addressing shortage of skilled labour, capitalization of the mining and diversification of the economy. Based on these identified priorities, specific strategies were designed to address these challenges.
Education was one of the key priorities identified to address the problem of shortage of skilled labour.
At independence local skilled labourers were so few that most (if not all) key technical positions in the country were held by expatriates (Mhone, 1982; Jolly, 1971). A Manpower Report published in 1966 explains this shortage of African skilled labour:
Most African countries were, in terms of education, poorly prepared for Independence, but in Zambia educational facilities for Africans were even more deficient than elsewhere. During the colonial era African education was not given high priority.... From 1954-1963, European education had been a Federal Responsibility financed from taxation, which tapped the main sources of revenues in Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia. In Contrast, African education was a territorial responsibility relying entirely on local funds. [Further] [u]ntil 1959, no African was permitted by law to be apprenticed in Zambia (cited in Elliot, 197: 7)
Agriculture was another priority sector. Focus on agriculture was justified on the urgent need to diversify the economy. One of the reasons why agriculture was prioritized is that it offered the opportunity to reduce over dependence of the economy on copper. The importance of agriculture to economic development also arose from the fact that majority of the population (80% in 1964) resided in the rural areas. Dr. Kaunda (Zambia's first president) passionately appealed for serious efforts to be directed towards improving the lives of people in rural areas which had been ignored by the colonial government. In his 1969 speech entitled Towards Complete Independence, he says,
In the period ahead we must concentrate and direct our efforts to those projects and areas which are likely to bring maximum benefit to the greatest number of people in rural areas. In other words, comrades, from now on our priority is rural development. Our emphasis must rest with those thousands of farm units which we must help to emerge from strict subsistence level into a living relationship with the rest of our cash economy (20, 21).
Thus, focus on agriculture during this period was not simply seen as a way of diversifying the economy to reduce over dependence on mining, but it was also a way of improving the lives of the poor people in the rural areas.
Table 2.2 Transitional Development Plan Sector'.
SECTOR
Administration, Defence & Internal Security Education & Training
Agriculture and Natural Resources Services to Industry & Mines Transport, Communication & Power Health & Social Welfare
Housing & Local Government Services Total
EXPENDITURE (K m.)
14 14.6
19 1.8 19.2
7 16.2 91.8
ixpenditure
%OF TOTAL42
15.2 15.9 20.7 2 20.9
7.6 17.6
Source: Adapted from Transitional Development Plan (1965) (in Elliot, 1971)
Transport and Communication, and administration were the other two key areas. To develop the agricultural sector, improvement in transport and communication networks was imperative. Another reason why transport was identified as one of the key sectors in the development strategy is that Zambia's economic growth depended heavily on external trad (both export and import). Given the export oriented nature of the copper economy at that time, transportation played a major role in the development of the country (Bostock, 1984). The critical importance of transport at the time of TDP may be inferred from the amount of resources allocated to the sector as shown in Table 2.2 above.
Total may not add up to 100% because of rounding off.
Apart from these four sectors there were other sectors as shown in Table 2.2 above which were included as part of the development strategy. Overall, it is not easy to evaluate the level of commitment given to these sectors other than what is contained in policy documents. What seems to be clear is that the leadership, in principle, demonstrated genuine commitment to improving the lives of the people though this dedication was short-lived.
2.1. 3.The First National Development Plan (FNDP)
As indicated earlier, the FNDP was launched shortly after the TDP (July 1966). In a sense both the TDP and the FNDP were essentially development strategies on how to handle the transition from colonial rule to self-administration. Since the FNDP was the first planning strategy with a full four-year implementation plan and budget; it forms an important watershed in Zambia's development history.
Much of what was to be achieved in later years depended on what was done during this period, particularly laying the "foundation of a diversified economy" (FNDP, 1966:4).