This contribution offers some critical reflections on the Diagnostic Overview
produced by the South African National Planning Commission. The argument is
structured in the form of catena and commentary with main sections devoted to the
assumption of the need for economic growth, factors inhibiting economic growth,
the category of unemployability, and the impact of inequalities. It is suggested that
Christian discourse on sin, understood as a form of social diagnostics, can contribute to an in-depth diagnosis by uncovering the root causes of the problem from an
ultimate perspective.