Reality check for socialists
WE HEAR the world will never be the same again. We are told that after Covid-19, we will probably have a better, more caring world where many of the economic problems will disappear, to be replaced by a new order that cares about the quality of human life, and equitable levels of human, environmental and economic development.
Forgive this cynic, but such a wonderful outcome seems unlikely. I cannot speak with authority about other countries, but I know something about South Africa. Reading ideas advanced by some, especially those in authority, I think South Africa might be worse off, not better, after the end of the pandemic.
The socialists are again gathering forces, insisting the market economy cannot and will not deliver. “Neo-liberal” economic policies are of the devil and it is the public sector, not the private sector, that will bring about this beautiful new world.
This was summed up for me by a recent article in The Star, written by Father Stanslaus Muyebe, the director for Justice and Peace of the SA Catholic Bishops’ Conference. “The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us that the cornerstone of a better world is a resilient, corruption-free and efficient public sector that has the means to deliver public services, enhance social protection and create an environment conducive to economic growth that sustains people, the planet and businesses equally.”
Father Muyebe, with respect, cannot possibly think the public sector meets these criteria or will do so anytime soon. Certainly not with a governing alliance of the ANC, the SACP and the trade unions.
He parrots the same ideas coming out of powerful circles. The same people have been in power for more than a generation. Their economic policies have led us to near bankruptcy and close to an International Monetary Fund bailout.
This was the situation before the pandemic; after it, things will probably be much worse. We had the highest unemployment rate in the world; we are told that the figure might rise to 50% which can be described as a disaster. As an aside, the (“neo-liberal”) US, hated by so many in South Africa, this month created 2.5 million new jobs and reduced its unemployment rate to 13.3% (Before Covid-19 it was 3.5%, the lowest for four or more decades.)
Former deputy minister Enoch Godongwana, the economic guru of the ANC, talks airily about the role of the state, forgetting there is hardly a state enterprise (or state department) that has been run with even a tiny bit of success.
Godongwana and the SACP seem oblivious to the R700 billion deficit this year or that the Land Bank needs a R22bn bailout, or SAA wants R21bn and Airports Company SA needs R3bn, not to speak of Denel, Eskom and countless others. The answer they come up with is that we must print money (the Zimbabwean way) and the government should get its hands on pensions and savings belonging to ordinary citizens.
President Cyril Ramaphosa also occupies a lofty place in the clouds, seemingly unaware that what our economy needs is major and multiple structural reforms to put it back on the path to growth. Our people need jobs. How do we create them?
When will these men wake up to reality, and find the courage and foresight to change their governing policies, so that South Africa, after Covid19, might become a better, fairer, more-inclusive country with greater opportunities for all its citizens?