Imagination is absent in the conventional spaces of South Africa’s economic growth path.Conventional wisdom equates increasing economic growth to around 7%, as an important target. In political speak, the growth target is of course a “necessary” and not a “sufficient” condition. What it In fact does is reflect orthodoxy. This policy stance is premised on the fiction that we can grow ourselves out of a situation of high unemployment, poverty and inequality.
The alternative position is to focus on building economic inclusion so that, as growth ramps up, so too, do employment growth and a concomitant reduction in poverty and inequality occur.
Enter COSATU’s economic proposals contained in “A growth Path Towards Full Employment.”
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Posted: September 28th, 2010 | No Comments »
Filed under: Economic Inclusion | Tags: Congress of South African Trade Unions, Cosatu, Growth Path
Unemployment Rate by Province (Second Quarter 2010)
| Province | % Unemployed |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 20.8 |
| Western Cape | 21.8 |
| Limpopo | 22.6 |
| South Africa (Total) | 25.3 |
| Gauteng | 27.1 |
| Eastern Cape | 27.7 |
| Free State | 28.0 |
| North West | 28.1 |
| Mpumalanga | 28.1 |
| Northern Cape | 30.1 |
Table on unemployment rate by province from Labour Force Survey Second Quarter 2010
Source: Statistics South Africa
Posted: September 25th, 2010 | No Comments »
Filed under: Economic Inclusion, Unemployment in South Africa | Tags: Provinces, South Africa, Unemployment
Sixteen Rand is not much. It’s what a single shot of espresso at an upmarket hotel in Cape Town might cost. However, poverty estimates reveal that over 20% of the population attempt to meet not only their food needs, but every other need with less than R16.00 a day.
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Posted: September 17th, 2010 | No Comments »
Filed under: Economic Inclusion, Public Policy | Tags: Capitalism, Income distribution, Poverty, Social equality
Antonio Gramsci opens a passage on the role of working class political parties with the ghastly fable of the beaver. Gramsci writes:
The beaver, pursued by trappers who want his testicles from which medicinal drugs can be extracted, to save his life tears off his own testicles. (1971)
Gramsci uses this fable to illustrate how progressive organisations acquiesce to powerful forces – sometimes fleeing from confrontation in the face of an onslaught, at other times fleeing at the prospect of even the slightest challenge. The story has lessons for trade unions in South Africa, when significant voices are calling for wage restraint on the part of workers, which needs to be understood within the limits of collective bargaining. First, employers need to realise profits to fund wage increases and potentially create jobs. And where government is the employer, it needs to ensure that it meets all service obligations. Second, in the current global financial crisis, winning high wage increases is difficult. These challenging truths are self-evident, because significant job losses have occurred, and COSATU (the Congress of South African Trade Unions) has estimated significantly more job losses to come. However, the wage restraint argument at its most extreme effectively asks trade unions to flee the shop floor – which would be to flee the very heart of trade union activism.
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Posted: April 28th, 2010 | No Comments »
Filed under: Economic Inclusion | Tags: Economics, employment, Wage Subsidy
