Poor burdened by apartheid legacy

WISE as ever, the ANC leadership should be commended for developing the Economic

Reform Discussion document, “Reconstruction, Growth And Transformation: Building A New, Inclusive Economy”.

It raises typical economic issues at the mercy of both government and industries vis-à-vis an informal sector largely dominated by foreign nationals.

Apart from a need for the hard lockdown, either way, the risk is worse as front-line personnel are often forced into isolation.

So far the Covid-19 has hit communities very hard with a surge of deaths in almost every ward across the country.

It has also laid bare cracks in society – where masses live in abject poverty, squalid overcrowded settlements and deprived rural communities – so degrading to the deplorable schools alike.

Yet the wealthy are wrapped up in their privileged lives. Could it be that they turn a blind eye to the scale of deprivation in society or care less for the poor? Surely, it’s not for their own convenience to make donations in favour of the department responsible for social relief.

This may seem like a blameshifting spin. However, the working class is neither coping with the status quo wrought out by apartheid. The system consolidated a racist ideology of separate development through a concealed corruption and malfeasance to create a fertile ground to cultivate permanent benefits for the minority.

Because the ultimate fault lines lie with the consensus made in Kempton Park during Codesa, which allowed privilege to supersede the political significance of the liberation struggle.

| MORGAN PHAAHLA Ekurhuleni