Tshepo Matjila, News24 User
It's goodbye GEAR, welcome back RDP!
Anyone who watched the ANC election manifesto launch on TV would tell you: No political party in South Africa today can muster such a large an enthusiastic crowd in the near future except the ANC itself!
Hate it or love it - the ANC has ground support and there is nothing you, COPE or the DA can do about it. It would take the next movement no less than two decades to pack a stadium with as many people as the ANC can and would on any good day. That is just a fact!
What Zuma lacked in charisma, the vociferous crowd made up for it with their enthusiasm. They were uncontrollable, jubilant and couldn't wait to sing umshini wam with Jacob Zuma, after he finished stuttering over the ANC's lofty election promises.
What the manifesto means: an analysis
It is glaringly obvious that the ANC wants to shake off any traces of Thabo Mbeki in their future plans; going all out to remove any business-friendly policies that endeared Thabo and the ANC to investors and the business community. The ANC, now over-powered by Cosatu and the pro-worker SACP, re-launched an emboldened RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme) manifesto that Mbeki unceremoniously killed in 1996 in favour of the ambitious GEAR (Growth, Employment & Re-distribution).
Gear was investor-friendly and quickly transformed South Africa into Africa's economic tour de force and made our country the preferred partner for many international businesses and investors.
No less than two landmark deals were concluded on Mbeki's watch: the billion dollar partnership between ABSA and Barclays UK was a landmark deal before ICBC eclipsed this deal with their own strategic alliance with Standard Bank South Africa in 2007.
BEE and BBBEE boomed; more women and disabled people were empowered; race relations improved drastically; we won the UN Security Seat; hosted the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD); our competitiveness and ease of doing business index improved dramatically; our economy recorded the longest sustained economic upswing ever recorded in SA; the emergence of a middle class (black and white increased); South Africa won the rights to host the FIFA World Cup - all this the incumbent president acknowledged as ANC victories in the past 15 years.
There were failures as well on the ANC and GEAR's watch:
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- The casualization of the labour force made many people a slave to bad employment practices
- The massive privatisation of state-owned enterprises left many people unemployed, broke and destitute
- HIV/Aids ravaged our people and killed millions while we were dithering over the roll-out of a better alternatives to ARVs
- The gap between the "have lots" and "have not" ballooned
- Dumping of textiles and other products from eastern countries became the norm, greatly prejudicing the livelihood of many of our business
- Corruption, cronyism and nepotism became the order of the day
- Eskom & SAA became regular beggars for funds while their bosses feasted on massive packages and enormous benefits
JZ said the ANC assumed responsibility for these failures too but was quick to forget to mention and acknowledge the stewardship of his predecessor as he navigated to read the lengthy manifesto. The rather uninspiring 15 or so minutes of JZ reading the manifesto was punctuated with a few applauses here and there and the loudest applause when he mentioned the increasing of grants.
This makes one to think a little bit, like:
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Do people vote the ANC because they know that they would continue to receive grants?
- Do people vote ANC because they believe there is no other political party that can do better than the ANC or,
- Do people vote the ANC because they know this is the only ticket for them to qualify for "a better life for all?"
I have a problem with the first and last point because then it cast a bleak picture about the majority of South Africans. If we continue to draw voters on the strength of charity, as in grants, then to me it means that we have a long way to go. This culture would create a lot of beggars rather than creators.
A culture of dependency rather than industry, hard work and progress. RDP was unfeasible and had to be scaled back over 13 years ago because of its over-reliance on government expenditure, what makes the ANC and its alliance to think that it would work now?
Where does the alliance think government would get the money to provide for all the lofty, capital-intensive plans contained in its election manifesto? Does government have a bottomless pit of loot to meet this election promises or would the citizenry be forced to foot the bill of this ambitious plans through higher taxes? What exactly is the Alliance stance on inflation targeting? Is it still a non-starter for them?
I really enjoyed watching the launch, enjoyed the electric mood and buoyancy of it, but I have serious questions that make me even more sceptical about the incoming cabinet.
Make me understand, please!
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