Graft not the only gripe

There are three separate problems in government: not only corruption, but also waste and socialism. The Western governments who sent President Ramaphosa an open letter were only talking of corruption.

Waste is a separate issue and comes from appointing unqualified people who make the wrong decisions and have poor managerial skills, which costs the taxpayer more billions.

Then more billions are lost through socialism. Socialism comes in many forms. Very high tax is one form. Threat of expropriation without compensation is another. High taxation is a disincentive for people to work, innovate and invest.

This has been the problem in mining where black economic empowerment is an additional tax which goes to a few selected family and cronies of the ANC.

The social grant system is also a form of socialism. It is a bribe to convince the poor to give the ANC the vote so they can appoint their family and cronies to get free shares in mining companies. The poor gain free grants, but lose permanent jobs earning a real income which could be four times larger than the social grants. The loss of 400,000 mining jobs under ANC rule attests to this debilitating form of socialism.

Ironically, the poor are better off under a regime where capital is paid a share of the profits than where capital is nationalised. Few will invest while we have 26% B-BBEE in mining, other countries are offering much better tax regimes. President Ramaphosa should scrap socialism, AA, B-BBEE and put South Africa on an 8% growth path.

– Naushad Omar, via e-mail