‘Go beyond slogans on radical economic transformation’

CAPE TOWN. — Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says true radical economic transformation must go beyond slogans and must effect active change for the black majority.

Ramaphosa was speaking at the Western Cape ANC’s provincial policy conference on Sunday, ahead of the party’s national conference at the end of June. The deputy president told those present in Stellenbosch that the ANC’s policies needed to deliver inclusive growth.

“While we have made important progress over the last two decades, this policy conference needs to look in detail at how we accelerate social and economic transformation,” his speech notes said.

“It needs to go beyond the slogans and to look in detail at the content of radical economic transformation for inclusive growth.

“It also needs to look at how we need to expand social protection through a social wage to redress levels of poverty among our people.”

In order to achieve economic transformation, South Africans expected the party’s policies to always be pro-poor and focused on jobs.

“At the centre of these policies must be an over-riding focus on the creation of jobs on a massive scale,” his speech notes continued.

“All our policies must be measured by the extent to which they contribute to job creation.

“Policies that do not create jobs — or that threaten jobs — must be reviewed and revised.”

Ramaphosa said it was also important to improve South Africa’s sovereign credit rating, as the country was still dependent on borrowing funds and foreign inflows due to its inability to save domestically.

“Junk status is therefore bad for South Africans, especially the poor, because it makes the cost of finance that much greater — with the result that we spend money servicing debt that we could be using to build new infrastructure or invest in education.”

It also needed to establish a road map for achieving a living wage for all workers, following the agreement of a national minimum wage, he said. — News24.