South Africa can learn from China when it comes to long-term planning and implementation of development models, a recent discussion at the University of Johannesburg’s Business School concluded.

Attended by academics, state officials and students, the meeting underscored the gulf between Beijing’s disciplined execution and Pretoria’s chronic failure to implement development models.

China’s model has propelled it into the ranks of the world’s largest economies, second only to the United States, with the potential to surpass it.

South Africa, by contrast, has comprehensive strategies on paper, most notably the National Development Plan (NDP 2030), but struggles to translate them into measurable progress.

The seminar’s discussions made clear that while both nations value planning, they operate at vastly different levels of discipline and delivery.

President Xi Jinping recently summarised China’s ethos when he said: “Blueprint drafting accounts for only one part of the work, implementation makes up nine parts.”

This obsession with execution has been the engine of China’s transformation and its secret to success.

South Africa’s National Development Plan, meanwhile, is approaching its deadline with little to show. Speaking at the seminar Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration Pinky Kekana admitted as much.

She criticised the tendency to equate planning with producing documents, stressing that true development requires institutions capable of converting vision into progress.

Plans matter, she said, but institutions matter more.

Kekana defended South Africa’s context, noting its diverse society and constitutional framework.

She cautioned against adopting a single model across the global south, instead urging an exchange of ideas and adapting successful approaches.

Yet her remarks carried an implicit critique: South Africa’s institutional weakness undermines its ambitions.

China’s consul-general in Johannesburg, Pan Qingjiang, said since the launch of its first plan in 1953, China has completed 14 successive cycles, each building on the last.

Pan cited per capita GDP above $13 000 (about R210 000) for two consecutive years and old-age social insurance coverage above 95% as outcomes, demonstrating the Chinese socialist system’s capacity for delivery.

Pan said projects follow the plan and resources follow the projects – a disciplined allocation model that ensures delivery.

Prof Zama Mthombeni, University of Johannesburg associate professor of anthropology and development studies, highlighted South Africa’s dual challenge: redressing apartheid-era inequalities while meeting contemporary economic demands.