This chapter presents the imperatives for social development, namely: policy, practice and professional education in South Africa. The chapter argues that the foregoing will not only consolidate social development efforts in the country but also spur the building of a developmental state in the country. For the foregoing to transpire, there must be trained professionals with the requisite knowledge, skills and intellectual acumen to implement policies, strategies and plans that foster social development on the one hand and help to build the developmental state on the other hand. Such a feat would be reliant on a robust, African focussed, and decolonised higher education system, among other things. The chapter proffers the modalities for achieving the former.