The implications of the IMF programme in Zambia: lessons for South Africa in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP)

Abstract

This study attempts to present a comparative analysis of the implication of the IMF in Zambia and South Africa in its Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). In examining the IMF programme, the study focuses on the Fund's understanding of such economies and its prescriptions for development. It is argued that IMF's familiar orthodoxy will have disastrous consequences for South Africa's poor, disadvantaged and rural communities. Finally, the IMF's market-oriented policy prescriptions are likely to erode democracy and have devastating effects to people-centred development programmes such as the RDP.