Economic and racial inequalities remain entrenched more than two decades after the end of apartheid, and millions of the black majority remain dispossessed of their land by a white minority. Today, we are met by a global pandemic amid the worsening material conditions among the masses of South Africans.
The roots of transformation are ‑flagged by a constitution that’s asserted to be the best in the world, while the majority remain at the bottom of the pyramid, in slums and absolute poverty.
The ANC ought to be uncompromising and relentless in its call for Radical Economic Transformation, as guided by resolutions of its National Conference. The urgent task of restructuring our economy with a focus on free education, land expropriation without compensation, and nationalization of mines and banks advocates for the direct interests of the poor and working class.
White people in South Africa still hold the lion’s share of all forms of capital. Therefore, our context of the economy is not at the exclusion of production. We don’t want to speak about sub-components of the production processes such as the workers, supplies, and deliveries, and so forth.
Those supplies are ultimately supplied by the producers of the very same economy we are trying to restructure.
In the same token, the settler becomes hell-bent on precluding land expropriation and questions black ownership of land when the very same land he owns is worked on by black people. The advent of democracy continues to see blacks tirelessly working and reporting to a white superior.
As evidenced by the material conditions of the worker, a noble call for free education presses us to upskill him. If we were to open the doors of learning for black people, one of the key skills they would attain would be Business Management; so, they learn to participate in the economy in their own will. The ANC needs to be earnest with the inclusion of the black majority into the value chain.
Recently, we learned of doctors being ‑own in from Cuba to come to aid South Africa fight the pandemic. Despite our good relations with Cuba, the argument would be, if the opportunities of learning were made available, the skills, talent, and knowledge of doctors would be in abundance. Skills development is a very crucial aspect that needs to be discussed in line with free education. Let the corridors of learning be opened to deal with prevailing socio-economic conditions. Decommodify education.
NSFAS is equally exclusionary in nature. The application requirements are lengthy with impossible to gather information required due to circumstances be-known to black communities. For those that are successful through their applications, it becomes unfortunate that the loan took through NSFAS needs to be paid back with the pressing unemployment that remains a reality to most graduates.
To this end, in all first world countries, 70% of their growth comes from SMMEs as a result of government intervention. The majority of GDP contributions come from SMMEs thus raising the question of the budget allocated to the Department of Small Businesses.
The capabilities of black people should not be frowned upon because the very businesses that we speak have been successfully running for decades without any regulations by the government. Given this, I believe the Department of Small Business in conjunction with Social Development and its constituencies are failing black businesses by not intensifying the call to formalize the informal sector. The support to unregulated small businesses is definitely part of the solution towards reviving the economy, and the regulation thereof.
The dawn of COVID-19 saw white minority businesses being given an opportunity to trade under Lockdown level 5 as they were deemed essential, putting them at an even greater advantage than black-owned businesses. As a result, the informal sector, black women, who continue to face unprecedented challenges beyond being the face of the triple oppression, which have rendered them vulnerable and small township businesses suffered to a great extend Into the bargain, the global pandemic has disproportionately affected black women, who are at the compromised helm of sectors of the economy such as retail, hospitality and child care.
Women leaving the workforce or cutting back hours to take on more responsibilities like childcare {at home} will have an impact on their future career opportunities, promotions, and pay disparities. These are issues that affect a whole family’s economic future.
In the same breath, the unperceptive embracing of women’s critical role in the global political economy has flagged transformation. Women in particular, as enhancers of the well-being of society, must be in the driver’s seat of commanding heights of the economy.
A model of post-pandemic reconstruction of the economy ought to be uncompromising in the quest to localize the economy and tackle the widening gender gap.
The ANC ought to be uncompromising and relentless in its call for Radical Economic transformation,
as guided by the resolution of its National Conference