The National Development Plan (NDP) has become the ANC’s silver bullet; dragged out every year for the last six or seven Sonas, it is regularly paraded before the nation as the solution to poverty, inequality and unemployment.
In this year’s Sona, President Jacob Zuma declared, “Today we are starting a new chapter of radical socio-economic transformation.” (Our emphasis) “We are saying we should move beyond words to practical programmes.”
These “practical programmes,” are nothing new. They are the same neo-liberal programmes that have been the hallmark of ANC rule for the past two decades and which have not come near to solving the problems of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
He spoke of the need to “reignite growth so that the economy can create much-needed jobs.” Yet, it is well-known that the purpose of growth in capitalist society is not job-creation, but profit.
Recent research shows that 10% of the population earn about 55% to 60% of all income and the same 10% own at least 90% to 95% of all (the wealth-producing) assets in the country. This is one of the greatest wealth disparities in the world. Not surprisingly, we also top the world rankings on the opposite scale – unemployment. Our unemployment rate has averaged 25% between 2000 and 2016 – also one of the highest in the world.
As the 36th largest exporter in the world, South Africa focuses much of its R900 billion infrastructure budget on strengthening this sector. This makes us critically dependent on the world economy, which has been in the doldrums at least since 2008, with little prospect of improvement any time soon.
Secondly, (non-renewable) minerals, the prices of which are subject to dramatic and unpredictable fluctuations on global markets, make up the biggest portion of our exports. It is high risk to focus the long-term future of the national economy on such a base.
South Africa’s public sector spending priorities should reflect the government’s socio-economic strategy. Indeed, President Zuma tells us in his Sona that the government’s R500m procurement budget and the R900bn infrastructure budget will do exactly that – they must “achieve economic transformation” by “influencing the behaviour of the private sector (our emphasis) to drive transformation.” So there we have it – a justification for BEE. The NDP is nothing other than a tool for enriching a small (black) elite.
Of the question of taxation of the obscenely rich, nothing was heard in this Sona. No matter what the opponents of a wealth tax might say, the influx of significant additional revenues into state coffers will go a long way to addressing a multitude of our current problems, including poverty, inequality and unemployment. At 28% our corporate tax rate is lower than that of the US (38.9%). Our tax revenues do not cover our spending and we end up having to go to international loan agencies to fund our deficits.
How can this be a sustainable way for national growth and development?
With an eye to the 2019 elections, Zuma raises the question of land redistribution. We heard that the government intends using the Expropriation Act “to pursue land reform and land redistribution, in line with the Constitution”.
This means the whole process will be subject to principles governing private rights of ownership consistent with government’s commitment to neo-liberalism. This is indeed reform, not transformation.
Under ANC policy, the poor will always be with us. And, regrettably, the same is true for all the players in the parliamentary democracy game, as all of them are committed to the same capitalist system – a system which manifests in tragedies like Marikana and more recently the horrific deaths of at least 94 mentally-ill patients in Gauteng whose care was privatised.
In his speech, President Zuma was highly selective with his facts when reporting that in the “Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study” South Africa showed the largest improvement among participating countries. He did not say that we are still among the worst in the world and that our learners who suffer significant disadvantages (for example, who do not study in their home language or who do not enjoy conveniences such as flush toilets or running water) scored the lowest.
Sona 2017 will leave the vast majority of the working-class people of this country with minuscule incremental improvements in their lot.
Genuine change – that is, real transformation – will come only when the working poor realise that they need to unhitch their hopes of a “better life for all” from the current capitalist wagon, and set an entirely new course in the direction of socialism.