Last chance to create an inclusive economy
Many readers of this column will remember Lech Walesa, his union Solidarity, and the struggle for Poland against the Sovietcontrolled regime of his time. Walesa’s sheer moral and physical courage made him a formidable foe. Poland in the 1970s and ’80s became a symbol of resistance to the Soviet Union’s oppression of its neighbours. Walesa won a Nobel Peace Prize and was president of his country from 1990 to 1995.
A free Poland joined the EU. Its economy grew and it prospered. Until Poles forgot what they had fought so hard for. Until they started taking their freedom for granted.
Now a new leader, driven by nationalism and using immigration to stoke fires, has a firm grip on Poland’s throat. Jaroslaw Kaczynski is strangling the judiciary and media in a direct attack on the democratic and modern constitution Poles fought for 40 years ago.
I was reading a piece on Poland by the New York Times columnist Roger Cohen and was struck by his recall of what Adam Michnik, the Polish dissident, public intellectual and newspaper editor, had once told him. The revolution for which Michnik had repeatedly gone to jail was something that did “not resemble the French or the Russian, but rather the American, in the sense that it (should) be for something, not against something, A revolution for a constitution, not a paradise; an anti-utopian revolution because utopias lead to the guillotine and the gulag.”
It was a powerful reminder of how close the Zuma bullet we dodged passed us by. By some miracle, we have been given a second chance to build a democratic republic centred solely on a constitution. We must absolutely not allow it to be threatened again.
In truth, Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency is not only our second chance. It may be our last chance. Yes, the ANC will squeeze both its main rivals in the elections next year. But at the same time you get the distinct impression that Ramaphosa would be lucky to get more than one term in office. He is surrounded by vipers in his own party. We may have just five years to get this thing right.
Ramaphosa obviously has a part to play in this but so do we all. He has to make sure he sheds from the presidency powers that might one day be abused again, as Zuma did.
And business, especially, has a part to play. If the state hasn’t figured out by now that the private sector is the only thing that works (with its own spectacular failures here and everywhere) in this economy it never will. But that puts a special responsibility on business and its leaders.
We have to ask: do we create wealth here in a way that is conducive to inclusive economic growth? Because unless we do we can be sure Ramaphosa’s tenure will be brief. Only, but only clear and decisive inclusive growth will save him for a second term, and it can only be delivered by business. But how do you do that? What do inclusive policies even look like?
Somehow, through all the summits — labour, investment and whatever Ramaphosa has planned for this year — the conversation has to turn to the design, the shape and the intent of our free market economy, of early 21st century South African capitalism.
If we are to save this country from another Zuma (or worse) we need an economy the majority of South Africans would want to defend. We need consensus.
And the only way to do that is to ensure that every South African has a stake in the economy; that we trust each other not to stuff it up. Somewhere between the airconditioned executive suites of Big Capital in Sandton and some poor wretch scratching a living out of thin air on a city pavement or rural patch, there has to be found some common ground.
And if you look for it you’ll find it. My fear is that business and the people in it will use the Ramaphosa years to make as much money as possible to weather the drought and ravages to come. That would be foolish, but we sometimes do business here like we play rugby — boorishly. Capital will never have a better opportunity to begin to safeguard and future-proof the way we create and distribute wealth in SA than right now.
A good place to start would be a simple piece of research. Which 20 economies in the world have the highest productivity? Strip from that list nations that do not hold regular free elections and have no independent judiciary or a free media. Then look at what’s left and copy what they do.
It isn’t rocket science. I’ll guarantee the one thing you’d find they all have in common is a high level of public trust in their national institutions. That’s what national institutions are there for in the first place. They level the playing field. They make us equals, or more equal. The more we trust our institutions the less we have to trust each other and, tauntingly, the greater the likelihood that we will!
Trust is the key to Ramaphosa’s difficult passage ahead. The land issue will be torture for some. But it must be convincingly and authentically tackled. Public sector cuts are inevitable. None of us will escape the coming pain but let’s at least not immediately denounce everything with which we are not instantly comfortable. We have five years to fight for something. Together.
CAPITAL WILL NEVER HAVE A BETTER OPPORTUNITY TO BEGIN TO SAFEGUARD AND FUTURE-PROOF THE WAY WE CREATE AND DISTRIBUTE WEALTH IN SA