Economic diversification crucial for South Africa
THE question “Where were you when the Twin Towers imploded?”, or some other momentous occasion, will always intrigue us when we think back about major events of the past.
Such was what occupied our minds when we read the thought-provoking article by Dr Rashied Omar on September 27 about the brutal slaying of Imam Haron 52 years ago.
This was going to be the trend when the apartheid rulers decided to “eliminate” all those who dared to oppose their evil Nazi-style policy of supremacist racial “separateness”.
The assassination of peaceloving people like Ahmed Timol, David Webster, Neil Aggett, Anton Lubowski, Steve Biko, the Cradock Four, the Pebco Three and many, many others followed.
Even today, political and extrajudicial killings are still happening with impunity all over the world.
Too many people still believe it is right to kill those who are in their way, or get others to do it for them. Some even go as far as to proclaim it as divinely ordained.
Did the loving gods of their holy books really command them to do such vile things?
Did our gods not perhaps intervene in the form of earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, air, bus and other disasters such as the Helderberg air disaster on November 28, 1987, droughts, etc to call us to order?
When Iman Haron was killed, after 123 days in torturous detention on
September 29, 1969, an earthquake shook the towns of Ceres and Tulbagh, with nine lives lost.
There has never been one of such magnitude in our country after that.
A total of 104 people, mostly elderly folks, drowned when the Buffels River in Laingsburg came down in a massive flood on a Sunday afternoon on January 25, 1981.
The apartheid regime could not keep up with its slaughter of political activists, believing fervently that was the way to stem the relentless tide of the Struggle for freedom.
Even hangings continued unabated in their slaughterhouse in Pretoria.
Judges never examined their own consciences because they also believed they were doing the right thing.
They were, after all, simply carrying out the law, not justice, just doing their job.
One such a “hanging” judge was Ramon Leon, father of the founding leader of the DA, Tony Leon. He sentenced Andrew Zondo to the gallows, although he called himself an abolitionist.
Did he ever atone? He went to his grave, and that is, unfortunately, his besmirched legacy. Will not one of his children do so on his behalf?
Australia has a national day of reconciliation, atonement for the atrocities perpetrated against its indigenous peoples.
When we celebrate ours, on December 16 each year, our white brothers and sisters shine in their absence, completely detached.
The question the nation builders of today should ask ourselves is what each one of us can do to make our country a better place for all of us, and those who will come after us, and not only some, or only those closest to us.
When two of us – myself and my late friend, Boeta Maillie of Bonteheuwel – learnt about the late Reverend Bernie Wrankmore's 67-day fast in the shrine on Signal Hill in August 1971, we would go there on several occasions and spend the night with him, drinking only water as he did, to be there in solidarity, to feel what he was going through, to keep the flame of hope alive.
The Afrikaans daily has a column in which they reprint snippets of main events of 50 years ago. Their inscription on Friday, September 24, reads: “The Prime Minister, Mr BJ Vorster, rejected the request for a judicial commission of inquiry into the death of Imam Hadji Abdullah Haron, the
Cape Town Muslim leader who died in detention two years ago”. That was how callous, cold, cowardly they were, their tainted legacies.
We will never be able to do enough to celebrate all our martyrs' supreme price for our freedom. We should earnestly refrain from regarding their lives as cheap, not worthy of commemorating, that they died in vain.
The extended hand of forgiveness of our father of the nation, Madiba himself, is still outstretched and is repeated by our present President Cyril Ramaphosa every time he communicates with us: that we should all strive as one for unity, togetherness, this country belongs to all who live in it, black and white.
What more should be said for us to accept one another and help with the building process!
Just where we live we can do so much. The DA mayoral candidate for our city's suggestion that we should start to clean up where we live should be taken up. Our president had also, years ago, already proclaimed March 8 each year for such clean-ups.
However, in a report in the Afrikaans paper of September 22, analysts say that although the idea of secession of the Western Cape is “still-born”, both the DA and FF+, in order to canvass for votes, will still support AfriForum's plans to petition the Constitutional Court for provincial referendums to pave the way for such an unholy secession.
How does one build a country with such dishonest people?
Equally disingenuous is their dangerous concealment of their stance on the death penalty, neither here nor there.
Have our fellow countrymen never embraced the new South Africa?
Will this be our legacy, that we had several chances, all squandered?
Meyer is an anti-death penalty and anti-apartheid activist, former history educator and scholar.
THE announcement in September that the economy recorded its fourth consecutive quarter of growth, should not be anything to celebrate.
Only a few sectors were responsible for the increases – namely transport, storage, and the communications industry.
Booming international commodity prices in oil and chemicals creating trade surpluses, and Statistics South Africa's recalculation of the country's GDP, have also papered over deep economic cracks – these, in all respects, do not indicate that the economy is on a good growth path.
South Africa's economy continues to emulate poor growth factors.
Currently, the state of the economy is such that economic growth has consistently remained lower than the average population growth of 1,5% per annum – this is a huge red flag, indicating that the economy remains in a slump.
South Africa still lacks the core necessities for long-term and sustained growth – these being innovation, skills, and diversification.
Firms and industries at the leading edge of innovation are key to driving real growth.
The government, however, has had a poor track record in supporting innovative technologies, leaving the country with very little capacity.
In 2017, the World Bank reported that South Africa was lagging behind its emerging market peers, as well as global technological and knowledge leaders.
The report recommended that South Africa improve its business climate for startups by encouraging skilled immigration, facilitating trade, encouraging competition in ICT and ensuring more effective public support for innovation.
The government's lack of support for innovation is a missed opportunity in efforts to generate long-term economic growth.
Harnessing South Africa's untapped potential for innovation will create jobs and reduce poverty by commercialising better goods and services.
The nexus between skills development and economic demands determines the composition of labour markets that play an important role in driving developmental outcomes.
The National Development Plan (NDP) outlines multiple areas for improvement of the education system, including the need for a high-quality, universal early childhood education and globally-competitive literacy and numeracy standards.
Key stakeholders including government, business and civil society are speaking about education in South Africa incorrectly.
Discussions concerning access to education, while noble and warranted, have overtaken those pertaining to curriculum and the provision of quality and relevant education that supports economic development.
The latter remains important, particularly given the country's developmental ambitions.
In a developing capitalist market like South Africa, education should play the key role of developing a labour force that fits the demands for growth and that can be absorbed by industry.
Given that the South African economy has a heavy reliance on service-led growth, immediate economic needs require the education system to be overhauled to produce a highskilled labour force.
Closely associated with this, South Africa has a lack of economic diversification.
The government's prioritisation of a few industries for growth must be questioned.
Economies do not grow like they did in the past, through the championing of a few industries which are ear-marked for exports.
The government needs to quickly envisage a path of economic diversification for the country.
This will require supporting poorly-performing sectors, such as manufacturing, and ensuring the increased localisation of value chains.
Maposa is a political economist with a Master’s in International Relations from UCT. He writes in his personal capacity.