Chilenga, Thokozani J2024-05-162024-05-162017Thokozani J. Chilenga (2017) Practicalities of the National Development Plan: prospects and challenges, using the rural economy as a case study, South African Review of Sociology, 48:2, 87-105, DOI: 10.1080/21528586.2017.1289478Print ISSN 2152-8586| Online ISSN 2072-1978https://hdl.handle.net/10539/38497This research focuses on whether decentralisation in South Africa’s public administration is useful for the development and problem solving capability of subnational government. Author, Thokozani Chilenga researches decentralisation between the national and the provincial spheres of government. Her MA research focused on South Africa’s National Development Plan, and subsequently informed the current research.The National Development Plan 2030 (NDP) is arguably South Africa’s widest and most inclusive plan for economic and social development since 1994. It is evidence of the urgent need for development in South Africa, although its political will is yet to be determined. A test of the NDP’s strength is whether it can implement development beyond the document using existing state institutions and structures. This article argues that the NDP may be a prudent plan for South Africa to become a democratic developmental state. However, the plan fails to mention critical factors in its chapters that will affect the strength and achievability of the plan. The chapter on the rural economy is evidence of this major flaw of the plan as it fails to mention the role of women in the rural economy and the critical factor of traditional leadership and governance (TLG) in a meaningful way that will establish the connection between the two. Ultimately, the NDP does not recognise the interface between women, rural development and TLG, and this flaw will lead to complications in the implementation of the NDP unless it is clarified, refined and asserted.en© The University of South Africa PressDevelopmentRuralWomenNational Development PlanTraditional leadershipGovernanceSDG-17: Partnerships for the goalsArticlehttps://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2017.1289478