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Special needs education in South Africa is a sector suffering from the systematic under-resourcing of the apartheid era and there are concerns about the future of special schools and specialised settings under the post-apartheid government reforms. In response to these concerns, the government declared its intention to create special needs education as a non-racial and integrated component of the education system. This paper explains the government's concept of an inclusive education and training system and describes how it will be developed to accommodate students with special needs. It describes the framework for establishing the system, the funding strategy, and the key steps required to put the system in place. The paper emphasises that special schools will be strengthened and that the process of identifying, assessing and enrolling learners in them will be overhauled. The challenges of inclusion are to be addressed with further professional and physical resources development, information dissemination and advocacy.