Shannon Ebrahim

IF SOUTH Africa is looking to emulate a political model in radical economic transformation, it need only look at Ecuador, which should be a natural ally.

Ecuador’s government has implemented a “Citizen Revolution” over the past 10 years that has achieved more than most progressive governments can claim.

If South Africa could achieve so much in the next decade, it would have something to be proud of.

The mantra of our president and ministers has become the need for “radical economic transformation,” making it imperative we pay attention to lessons we can learn from Ecuador’s experiment in radical economic transformation.

What is ironic is that when the Ecuadorian ruling party won the national elections two weeks ago, ushering in a successor to the progressive leader Rafael Correa Delgado, our country failed to offer our congratulations, when countries around the world wasted no time doing so.

Even countries that might have attempted to undermine the Ecuadorian revolution came out with congratulatory messages, including the US and EU.

All the Latin American governments congratulated Lenin Moreno on the victory of the movement Alianza Pais.

Yet what we are trying to achieve in South Africa in terms of pro-poor policies is largely the same as the Alianza Pais’ agenda.

The past 10 years in Ecuador has been dubbed “the decade gained” as Alianza Pais ushered in a period of deep transformation that was remarkably successful in reducing poverty and inequality.

All social indicators were improved including basic education, health, housing, services, and investment in infrastructure.

The level of employment improved significantly in quality and quantity, and access to higher education was democratised.

What Ecuador did in 2008 following Correa’s government coming to power in 2007, was change the constitution to give more rights to the people.

This proved to have immediate benefits for the masses. Around 2002, domestic workers in Ecuador used to spend 12 to 14 hours a day cleaning houses with no overtime pay, pension or social security.