Fix education, fix labour — and halt South Africa’s slide
SOUTH Africa’s competitiveness continues to inch lower, but the headlines this week were all about how we are not even the best in Africa any more. South Africa is ranked the 53rd most competitive country of the 148 surveyed by the World Economic Forum. Mauritius is 45th. The question is, should we panic? The short answer is no. The longer answer is, just a little bit. Firstly, South Africa has not plummeted down the rankings; it has lost only one place. Mauritius has vaulted nine places thanks to its “clear property rights, strong judicial independence and an efficient government”. This is more Mauritius’s gain than South Africa’s loss.
On the positive side, South Africa has actually overtaken Brazil in the rankings to become the second-most competitive of the so-called Brics countries. China ranks higher at 29 but Russia, India and Brazil trail.
Rankings aside, the really worrying omens are in the details. The report isolates the two crucial issues facing South Africa: a crumbling education system and a horribly inflexible labour market.
When it comes to the quality of our education system, South Africa is 146th out of 148 countries.
Last week, Patrice Motsepe highlighted education as a key factor straitjacketing the economy. He will take little comfort in seeing that when it comes to maths and science, South Africa is stone last, 148 out of 148 countries. This fact alone shows that Angie Motshekga’s continued presence in parliament is an indication that our president lacks respect for the country he serves.
Secondly, our labour market is inefficient, ranked 116th; our ability to fire people far too inflexible, at 147th; and we are the most tense country in the world when it comes to labour relations.
The most competitive economies have strong institutions, strong education and health systems, a strong macroeconomic environment and well-developed infrastructure. On the basic requirements, we are 95th in the world — in the bottom third.
Leaders such as Cyril Ramaphosa argue convincingly that South Africa does well on some things. Our financial markets are world class, for example. But having one of the best-regulated stock exchanges in the world is pretty meaningless if your education system is not producing anyone to run these companies, and if so many people are striking that these companies grind to a halt. Ramaphosa is right that the economy is not a disaster — but it is at a stage where we need to step up a gear.
Our politicians have a lot to worry about. This generation of MPs could consider themselves a success if they ignored the white noise and concentrated on just two things: fixing education and fixing labour.