Fanie Brink, Independent Agricultural Economist
“The State of the Nation Address that President Cyril Ramaphosa presented to the National Assembly of Parliament last week can be summarised in just a few words, namely: 'Stop the socialist destruction of the economy and the country,’“ says Fanie Brink, an independent agricultural economist.
The State of the Nation Address once again made it very clear that the presidency, together with its political allies and the social partners representing the private sector, would never understand that the private sector cannot create any jobs if the government does not develop a political and economic environment that will be conducive to the private sector to generates profits and creates economic growth.
The real facts are that the predominant regulatory involvement of the government in the economy with its totally destructive socialist ideology, economically illiteracy and incompetence are the main reasons why the private sector cannot make a higher contribution to economic growth, which is the only way it can create more job opportunities.
This is, unfortunately, very clear that the government and its political allies, the SA Communist Party (SACP) and the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), as well as its social partners, “SA Business Unity” (BUSA) and “Business Leadership SA” (BLSA), will apparently just never understand it.
Why would the private sector allow a purely socialist government to prescribe to it that it must create jobs within the destructive socialist environment that the government has developed that will finally destroy the economy and the country within the next 3 to 4 years?
The economic destruction will be accelerated by the ANC's own supporters through greater political and social unrest, looting and the destruction of businesses, property and important access routes that the country experienced during July last year in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
The time has come for the private sector to get rid of its economically illiterate and incompetent business organisations, “BUSA” and “BLSA” and replace them with a business organisation that understands the most basic principles of how economic growth is created in most countries in the world today! The currently organised business representatives who support the totally corrupt and destructive ANC government's economic policy have not realised after almost three decades that it is totally destroying the economy and the country!
In fact, the government has slowly but surely destroyed the political and economic environment even further after 1994, which could otherwise have been conducive to the creation of economic growth and development by the private sector!
The question is also why would the private sector want to get involved in the so-called “Private-Public Partnerships” with the corrupt ANC government that does not have any entrepreneurial and managerial expertise how positive returns on investments in infrastructure and other government projects can be realised? Just to jeopardise their own financial survival by a government that has no idea how to create economic growth and job opportunities?
The President succeeds each time admirably in falling back on his government's previous purely socialist economic plans, such as the "National Development Plan" and the "Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan" (which consists purely of a socialist and academic wish list) of its social partners that are also still further responsible for the totally uncontrollable and irreversible fiscal and social problems of the country.
The announcement by the president's in his State of the Nation Address that the private sector should create jobs in the economy is totally acceptable, but neither the Presidency nor its political allies and social partners can understand that its socialist ideology cannot create economic growth and job opportunities.
The government's political and economic policy will continue to destroy economic growth which will further widen the gap between its revenue and expenditure which will result in even further rising budget deficits and government debt as well as growing unmanageable fiscal and social problems which are already totally outside the control of the ruling party.
The government and its economic advisers have already brought the economy and the country to the last step before to the abyss and it will together with its political allies and social partners rather see to it that everything is destroyed without accepting any responsibility for the greater fiscal and the social consequences that its policy will causes until the country is eventually degraded into an underdeveloped country with much greater poverty, famine, unemployment, inequality and human suffering than they will ever understand.
The devastating economy has already reached the point where none of the plans and promises again made by the President during his State of the Nation Address this year will succeed or materialised and domestic and foreign investors should no longer be misled by it.
The country can also no longer rely on any objective view and support from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that fully supports the destructive economic ideology of the government, but which has clearly no idea of the real facts and realities surrounding the socialist destruction of the economy and therefore cannot offer any meaningful recommendations and solution to South Africa! ”, says Brink.
Fanie Brink, Independent Agricultural Economist
Incidentally, the President's references in his State of the Nation Address to “a new consensus which recognizes that the state must create an environment in which the private sector can invest and unleash the dynamism of the economy. The key task of government is to create the conditions that will enable the private sector to emerge, grow and access new markets, create new products, and hire more employees. All of these measures will drive a turnaround in economic growth driven by the private sector growth over the coming years. We know, however, that even with the best business environment and much faster rates of economic growth, it will take time for the private sector to create enough jobs for the millions of South Africans who need them” came directly from my “Creating Economic Growth Plan”* which was submitted to the Presidency and the National Treasury in May last year and again to the Presidency last month for which no acknowledgement of receipt or feedback was received!
If only the Presidency and the National Treasury, as well as their political allies and social partners, understood that economic growth in virtually all countries in the world today is created by the private sector from the supply and demand side of the economy that is driven by the profit motive, it could bring about a complete reversal in South Africa's economic growth and prosperity for everyone in the country!
* “Creating Economic Growth Plan”
