CAPE TOWN - ANC alliance partners Cosatu and the SACP have slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s change of tune, saying his assertions that the government does not create jobs - as this was a primary responsibility of the private sector - was an admission of defeat.
In his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday, Ramaphosa appeared to have abandoned the plans in the ANC manifesto ahead of the November local government elections, when he said the key task of the government was to create the conditions that will enable the private sector – both big and small – to emerge, to grow, to access new markets, to create new products, and to hire more employees.
“We all know that the government does not create jobs. Business creates jobs. Around 80% of all the people employed in South Africa are employed in the private sector. The problems in the South African economy are deep and they are structural,” he said last week.
But Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla differed with this assertion, saying yesterday: “It’s disappointing for the president (Ramaphosa) to have said that. It’s an admission of defeat. The private sector does not create jobs.
“Ten years ago corporate tax was 34% which is now reduced to 28%. Businesses no longer invest back into the economy. Instead of investing back into the economy, they keep it in their bank accounts.
“Many businesses now hire foreigners to avoid costs. There are no jobs. The president doesn’t know what he is talking about. There is no private sector that will create jobs here. There just has to be a change of attitude and the president must just stop saying that,” Pamla said.
The SACP called on Ramaphosa to re-examine his “fatally flawed” idea.
SACP central committee member and party spokesperson, Dr Alex Mashilo, said: “It is important to build a capable developmental state with organic capacity to serve the people diligently and capably.
“Why are we saying the neo-liberal assertion that the state does not create employment is fatally flawed? First, let us acknowledge that there is significant private sector employment in South Africa.
“However, workers find work in profit-driven private sector companies only so long as their labour increases capital for accumulation by their owners.
“This is one reason the private sector has also created and increased unemployment through retrenchments in pursuit of profitability and profit maximisation.”
Ramaphosa’s comments were in stark contrast to what he promised just four months ago when campaigning for the ANC ahead of the local government elections.
He had identified job creation as the party’s key task in the party’s manifesto.
“The government has worked together with communities and other social partners to save lives, protect livelihoods, and lead the process of recovery.
“To support the most vulnerable people, the ANC introduced an unprecedented package of measures, including social relief of distress grants for the unemployed, wage support for workers and various forms of relief for businesses. We are striving to build a better economy with more opportunities for all.
“Our key task is to create jobs and reduce poverty as a matter of urgency. Creating jobs and sustainable economic opportunities for the youth is especially urgent.
“We are mindful of the mistakes we have made. In the last elections, in 2019, we promised that we would spare no effort to renew the ANC, to end state capture, crime and corruption, create jobs and work to meet the needs of our people,” Ramaphosa had said.
“To ensure alignment and co-ordination between national, provincial, and local government, we will accelerate the implementation of the District Development Model.
“Through this model, we will establish 44 district councils and eight metros as the central points for economic development, job creation, investment and the reduction of poverty and inequality.
“The challenges facing young people in our country are formidable. Youth also have lower participation rates in elections and the affairs of communities. We must create more jobs for them as first-time entrants into the job market,” read the ANC manifesto.
Policy analyst Nkosikhulule Nyembezi said the cracks were widening already in the ANC alliance partners, on the broader shift to being more business-friendly, as the contradictions show that the president cannot sell this to his own party.
“His words were elastic in ways that his mind obviously isn’t – that the government must create the enabling environment for business to flourish and do away with the reams of red tape which prevented small businesses from employing (and dismissing) workers – is an important ideological shift for the ANC.
“It proceeds from the assumption that those issues hindering business – that of red tape, logistical and infrastructural inefficiencies, security failures, labour reforms and privatisation of services – can now be a focal point of ANC policy-making ahead of its elective conference in December.
“It runs contrary to an increasingly bloated Presidency and the rise of a parallel state under his watch, including the recent layers of high-profile individuals brought in to do the work of the executive and public servants, to deal with red-tape blockages that are largely at local government level,” he said.
Acting Presidency spokesperson Tyrone Seale said: “The government is committed to working with all sectors of society, including the private sector, to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth, with job creation as a critical objective.”
Cape Times