South Africa’s 3.2% contraction in GDP for the first quarter has come as a shock only to those who have gullibly believed that that President Cyril Ramaphosa is able to fix our economy.
4 June 2019
The Capitalist Party of South Africa (ZACP) is clear that the contraction is the inevitable consequence of current and proposed government policy shaped by the ANC — policies similar to those which led to destruction of wealth in once prosperous societies such as Zimbabwe and Venezuela.
Already, spin doctors are at work trying to frame the contraction as a momentary aberration because of load shedding in the first quarter. We expect the inevitable platitudes about the need for Government. Business, and Labour to work together to address the problem. This is nonsense. The widely held prediction that the economy would only contract by 1.7% would have been more accurate if government spending had not increased by 1.3% in the same period. Our government is the problem. It cannot provide the solution.
Meanwhile in its issue dated 23 May, The Economist notes that most of the rich world is enjoying a jobs boom of unprecedented scope. “Not only is work plentiful, but it is also, on average, getting better. Capitalism is improving workers’ lot faster than it has in years...”
If government is serious about fixing the economy, the way forward is clear: