Ramaphosa vague about plan to grow economy: Question of whether it is feasible remains

1 June 2020

President Cyril Ramaphosa's ideas to get the economy up and running again will remain mere plans if they are not combined with practical, feasible proposals. Last week, he had an online conversation with the South African National Editors' Forum about his plans to rebuild the economy.

As premise for his recovery plan, he said that the current economic dispensation was built on racism and colonialism and this goes to show that any plan that arises from it is doomed to fail.

The reality, however, is that the current economic dispensation is built on Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and Affirmative Action (AA) and that makes it inherently racist.

The President's statement raises the question of whether Black Economic Empowerment will play a greater role in the economy in the future. He also said that the economy must be locally directed and that the country must produce its own food. This demonstrates that President Ramaphosa is out of touch with reality seeing as the country is indeed producing its own food.

He added that the economy must be opened and must respond to the high level of poverty in the country by focusing on job creation. He has been saying that since he became president in 2018. It is general knowledge that the country's economy was experiencing serious problems even before the lockdown. Last year, economic growth was a mere 0,2%.

There is no rabbit that he can suddenly pull out of a hat to bring about economic growth. On the contrary, President Ramaphosa's statements regarding extensive reforms and that land reform must be fast-tracked create the impression that he wants the country to move swiftly toward socialism.

The FF Plus's stance is that the only sure way to bring about economic growth is to implement free market principles. That means BEE, AA and expropriation without compensation must be abolished.

People must be allowed to conduct business without race playing any role. Thus, the FF Plus is challenging the President to release the detail of his growth plan for the economy.

He has been saying since 2018 that the country's infrastructure presents the opportunity to create jobs. It has always been there and nothing has changed. The only thing that he needs to do is to implement free market principles in South Africa.

No other plan, apart from the free market approach and certainly not socialism, will grow the economy or create more jobs.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 1 June 2020