An open letter to Ministers Patel, Davies and Gordhan
Dear Ministers, Patel, Davies and Gordhan
Consider this letter a criticism that nevertheless appreciates the value of your recent work on creating the building blocks for a new development path in South Africa. After all, as our collective history indicates, power concedes nothing without demand. To which we might add, demands without mobilisation are futile.
I interpret the call for a new development path as a demand and a deliberate undertaking towards a more equal South Africa. On this matter, you have my support, as it clearly is unsustainable to have the poorest 10% of our population with access to only 0,6% of total national income, while the top 10% account for 53% of total income in South Africa.
Is it any wonder then that we have so many “service delivery” protests?
In this regard, I was particularly struck by the closing quote in Minister Patel’s recent address to Parliament. He closed with a quotation from Franklin D. Roosevelt, an American President and the architect of the New Deal. The essence of the quote is that we must remake society through the means at our disposal and emerge from it a stronger nation with an abundance of opportunity and fairer outcomes. It is a theme that ran through all the speeches you collectively delivered to parliament while presenting your budgets. You have offered an ambitious vision for the future.
However, I am having a really difficult time trying to reconcile this bold recognition of the need for change with the reality of power relations in the economy.
Posted: April 12th, 2010 | No Comments »
Filed under: Economic Inclusion | Tags: Economic development, Economic liberalism, Economics, New Deal, South Africa, World Bank
