Cape Town - Shortly after former president Jacob Zuma won at the ANC’s 2007 Polokwane conference, and a year before he took seat as president of the country in 2009, political economist Moeletsi Mbeki proposed 10 points on ways to improve the economy of the country.
According to Mbeki, none of these suggestions were implemented and the condition of the economy has deteriorated tremendously since.
Mbeki’s ideas, among others, included doing away with the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws, as this he says creates a greater divide among black people.
The letter was sent out to Zuma in June 2008. This, Mbeki said, was to ensure that once Zuma claimed the highest seat in the land, he had a list of suggestions to take the country forward.
The 10 proposals are as follows: re-introduce military conscription to combat crime, illegal immigration and provide vocational training for the youth; restore subsidies and state funding for agricultural research in order to restore South Africa’s food security and reduce growing dependence on food exports; introduce irrigation schemes in former homelands to encourage growing of vegetables for sale; introduce a sustainable commercialisation programme for livestock in the former homelands; phase out Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws, as it contributes to accelerating economic inequalities within the black population without contributing to economic growth and job creation; start a programme to build new towns to eliminate informal settlements; establish venture capital funds to promote entrepreneurship among South Africans; provide free bursaries, up to PhD level, for all students who pass with exemptions in higher grade maths and science; redesign the South African education system to promote competition among pupils and teachers; and introduce smart partnerships with the private sector into state-owned enterprises.
Since none of the suggestions were implemented under Zuma’s reign, Mbeki said these pointers remain valid.
“I had written to him because we had poor employment and there were a number of negative trends in the economy. I thought to provide him with a few suggestions of what he should do when he becomes president, to try and fix the problems that South Africa was faced with.
“Unemployment, at the time, was in the region of about 20%. These proposals that I made, in June 2008, are as valid now as they were then – and they were never implemented at the time. South Africa is actually in a worse condition now than it was in 2008. The proposals were focused on fixing South Africa,” he said.
Mbeki said the primary problem of SA is that a huge part of the adult population does not work.
“At the moment we are sitting with 42% of our working-age population not working. You cannot develop an economy when people don’t work. People think there is some magic wand to develop an economy. What develops an economy is when every able-bodied person works. Secondly, the better the education is, the better people they produce. The more entrepreneurs you have, the better – because those individuals create jobs. These are the things South Africa needed in 2008 and needs today,” said Mbeki.
With the introduction of irrigation schemes in former homelands, to encourage growing vegetables for sale, government can do away with social grants. Mbeki explained that this will allow for adults to work and be productive in a commercially feasible way.
“The government’s solution to this is social grants. That is the wrong policy. The correct way would be to introduce irrigation schemes in those areas, because if they sell vegetables to the market the adults become economically active,” said Mbeki.
According to Mbeki, BEE is the origin of a multitude of sins, as it is a driver of inequality among black people. He refers to it as a source of instability and this, he says, was proven with the recent looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
“There’s a black elite doing very well thanks to BEE, but the people who they used to lead are stuck in the townships, unemployed. We have to phase out this issue and it doesn’t create any jobs. It is a redistribution system,” he said.
Independent Media contacted Zuma's spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi for comment, but received no response at the time of publication.
Political Bureau