The national qualifications framework (NQF) in South Africa has been seen internationally as one of the most, if not "the" most, ambitious qualifications frameworks. Support for the NQF at its inception was described as "extraordinary". It aimed to replace all existing qualifications in the country with a set of new qualifications designed by new structures; this was intended to ensure the overhaul of all learning programmes and curricula. Its designers and supporters hoped that getting groups of stakeholders to create new qualifications and unit standards (part qualifications) consisting of learning outcomes, would lead to new provision and new institutions, as well as to many individuals getting qualifications based on knowledge and skills that they already had. This in turn, it was hoped, would contribute to solving educational, social, and economic problems. The story of how the NQF developed is, inevitably, complicated and contested. But it is also an important story, because the South African NQF has been influential within Southern Africa and elsewhere, and it continues to be seen as an important qualifications framework internationally. This article tries to trace the key narrative of the plans, implementation attempts, and changes, as well as provide an analysis of what can be learnt from this experience. (Contains 3 notes.)