A reminder to the ANC that it needed to deepen democracy in society arrived at the ANC’s Polokwane conference, where one major gripe against President Mbeki was that he had failed to create “policy coherence” amongst the ANC and its alliance partners, let alone the broader society. Mbeki was criticised for insulating public policy through technocratic methods, and failing to build consensus in society beyond the so-called chattering classes. Whilst Mbeki’s vision for a post-colonial society that worked rested on making unpopular decisions, it was at least palpable.
President Jacob Zuma’s administration repeats Mbeki’s mistake, but in more hidden ways. Nevertheless, it’s exactly the same thing: attempting to insulate public policy choices from contestation in society, and as a consequence failing to build policy consensus in society. This is most visible in the establishment of various presidential panels to advise on key policy areas of black economic empowerment (BEE), state owned enterprises (SOE) and developing the national plan.
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Posted: July 26th, 2010 | No Comments »
Filed under: Civil Society, Public Policy | Tags: Black Economic Empowerement, Jacob Zuma, Planning Commission, Policy, Politics, South Africa, Thabo Mbeki
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.
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Posted: April 12th, 2010 | No Comments »
Filed under: Economic Inclusion | Tags: Economic development, Economic liberalism, Economics, New Deal, South Africa, World Bank
This is an interview based a journal article I wrote. The article looks at how the global economic crises is reinforcing poverty and inequality in South Africa. The text is from the Society for International Development website, which publishes Development. The abstract of the article can be found at this link.
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Posted: February 23rd, 2010 | No Comments »
Filed under: Economic Inclusion | Tags: Economic growth, Economic inequality, Economics, Global Economic Crises, Income distribution, Late-2000s recession, Macroeconomics, South Africa
