There is a link between the two crises making headlines in South Africa. The failure of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to deliver textbooks is part of a far broader failure in the education system – a failure that continues to trap millions of people at the bottom of the income scale, more than 18 years after the ANC came to power.
South Africans could be forgiven for thinking that DBE stands for the Department of Bantu Education. Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid, hijacked an ordinary word – people – and vested it with sinister political overtones. His policy was to disempower black people by providing them with an inferior education known as Bantu education.
The post-1994 governments have done little to reverse the process, while teachers have fought aggressively for their right to continue to provide pupils with an inferior education.
Trade union federation Cosatu may turn on the government over the textbook issue but its affiliate, the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union, has subverted the government’s attempts to address the problem of poor teaching. Many of its members refuse to acknowledge that, in return for their pay, they must educate children.
The consequence is that children in many rural and townships schools leave without the ability to compete in a modern economy. They often count themselves lucky if they have a job at all - even a poorly paid and dangerous job.
Miners’ only alternative to accepting a pittance is to strike. But, as we have seen from the recent events in the North West, industrial action is no substitute for skills. And, despite the presence of a strong and militant trade union movement for more than three decades, workers have not achieved their goals.
Disillusioned with their unions, the Marikana miners are determined to represent themselves. But that will prove equally fruitless. The strikes and demonstrations are an opportunity to express their anger. But their demands that the mines double their pay will not be met. And, if they were to be met, more of the workers would be out of work.
The platinum price is soaring but that is only on supply concerns. Demand is weak because the global economy is showing no signs of gaining momentum. There is no longer endless demand for catalytic converters from the automotive industry and the outlook for the foreseeable future is poor. It’s a weak point in the commodity cycle and the platinum mines can’t afford to meet the workers’ demands. The same cyclical logic applies in other mining sectors and also in manufacturing.
But the problem goes way beyond cycles. Essentially, the country’s capacity to produce is limited by the available skills.
A more educated workforce would put the economy on a different growth trajectory. Both supply and demand would increase and unemployment would fall.
Mines, which could no longer rely on cheap labour, would either replace it with capital or halt uneconomic operations. But the gap would be filled by other less cyclical sectors of the economy.
Whatever Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies and Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel may believe, we can’t unwind history. The structure of the economy has changed over the past 30 years and the number of low-skilled jobs has not kept pace with the rising supply of people with few or no skills.
The country has to look beyond the mining crisis to education. It owes its children an education that equips them to earn a living wage.