South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) has noted that this year’s State
of the National Address was dedicated to the recitation of the gains of
democracy since 1994. This was not avoidable in that SONA coincided with the end
of the third decade of democracy and the election period. With the African National
Congress (ANC) facing a backlash from the working class and the electorate due to
its failures, the President was somewhat overzealous in his attempt to debunk criticism
of his government. In the process he engaged in intellectual dishonesty and refused
to acknowledged government policy failures. Denialism does not solve problems.
We acknowledge that there have been many gains worth celebrating since 1994, and
the rate of economic growth has more than doubled on average since the end of
apartheid. However, there are some economic and social challenges that are
associated with the gains.
We are extremely disappointed that the President, in his attempt to show that there
has been progress, ended up being defensive and still refused to accept the
magnitude of his government failures, in particular where it matters most for the
working class and the marginalised poor majority.
The number one crisis this country faces is the catastrophic unemployment
levels. This was always crisis number one during the apartheid era, and regrettably it
has become even worse under the bourgeoisie democracy. The President claims that
there were employment initiatives taken to resolve the unemployment issue in South
Africa , highlighting that there were many jobs that were created but the unemployment
rate is still increasing quarterly since his appointment in presidency.
In this area, the ANC government has dismally failed the citizens. Even though the
President acknowledged that this remains a challenge, he did not engage in particular
with honesty that the policies the government has pursued since 1994 have made the
small, rich elite spectacularly wealthy, whilst the poor remain trapped in degrading
levels of poverty and squalor.
Here are the facts that the President deliberately and purposefully decided to hide.
- There is a 41% unemployment rate in South Africa. This means out of every
ten, four South Africans are unemployed. There are 11.7 million unemployed.
persons in the economy. This makes South Africa one of the countries with the
worst unemployment rate in the world. - There are 8.6 million our young people who are Not in Employment, Education
and Training. That represents a staggering and frightening 66%, but when it
comes to youth between the ages of 15 and 25, the unemployment rate goes
up to 70%. - We have become the most unequal society in the world during the first three
decade of democracy. 1% of the population owns 45% of the wealth. 10% of
the population earns 90% of the wealth. - The capitalist class rewards the pro-rich economic programmes by hoarding
R1.4 trillion and moving out of the country up to R400 billion rands annually. A
quarter of our industrial capacity is not utilised. Yet we have lost 50% of our
industrial base between 1994 and to date. - The government has done little to change the colonial structure of the economy.
As a result, our economy remains dominated by the minerals, finance and
heavy chemicals complex. Our mineral resources are not being beneficiated in
our country. This means we are exporting jobs and wealth to other countries. - Instead of addressing the colonial economy’s structural fault lines, the
government has embarked on Structural Adjustment Programmes. The
corporate taxes have been cut by about half, exchange controls removed to
allow resources to be moved out of the country, and fiscal and monetary
policies that have helped increase the wealth of the small number of tycoons
whilst impoverishing the majority have been employed.
These pro-rich programmes reproduce poverty, unemployment, and inequality. They
are made even worse by the industrial scale of corruption by the capitalist class and
the parasitic comprador capital and senior government officials.
These programmes have antagonised the majority of the working class from the ANC.
However, despite facing the prospect of losing its historic majority for the first time, the
ANC government refuses to acknowledge that it has betrayed the black people and is
offering meaningless rhetoric.
These pro-rich programmes reproduce poverty, unemployment, and inequality. They
are made even worse by the industrial scale of corruption by the capitalist class and
the parasitic comprador capital and senior government officials.
These programmes have antagonised the majority of the working class from the ANC.
However, despite facing the prospect of losing its historic majority for the first time, the
ANC government refuses to acknowledge that it has betrayed the black people and is
offering meaningless rhetoric.
