The 1994 elections in South Africa attracted worldwide attention and admiration. Since then remarkable progress has been made in national reconciliation and – against all the odds – in reconstruction and development. Unfortunately press reports in Europe offer little positive information and prefer to focus on political conflicts and the endemic violence inherited from the apartheid regime. This paper examines the ANC’s Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), its genesis in exile, the process of consultation with the people, and the remarkable vision it offers for the new South Africa. The problems of implementation and the prospects of success are discussed, with detailed consideration of the socio-economic aspects of the Programme – land, housing, education, health and employment – and an assessment of the political, administrative and financial constraints. The final question is: Can the RDP be afforded? The paper concludes that the Programme is not only affordable, but possible. Such a deeply divided country, with its deprived and impoverished black majority, cannot afford not to undertake a radical programme of reconstruction and development.
