LETTER: ANC has got SA in an unemployment mess
ANC policy, infrastructural decay and a general lack of skills has led to an unemployment rate of almost 50%
Most of the arguments for and against a basic-income grant (BIG) assume the poor will be with us, in large numbers, forever (“A universal basic income has become unavoidable” and “Study’s conclusion that a BIG is more pain than gain is not credible”, August 7).
What policymakers should consider is why we SA is here at all. To have almost 50% of working-age people unemployed is not something to be proud of. For decades, the ANC has been talking about job creation without looking to see why we have such large-scale unemployment.
For example, we missed out on the two most-recent mining booms, because the government couldn’t decide whether it was for or against the nationalisation of mines. That’s a huge put-off for potential investors. Others include the Mining Charter, with no-one wanting to mention the elephant in the room — the 30% dilution of ownership required.
Then there is electricity, rail transport, airlines and the lack of quality education leading to a lack of skills. No wonder there is a lack of investment. Most of these issues could be fixed fairly quickly if the rules allowed for the employment of competent people, and that incompetents could be got rid of easily.
Years ago, the National Development Plan (NDP) promised annual growth of over 5% and unemployment down to 6% by 2030. Part of the problem with long-term goals is that unless they are regularly reviewed for progress, there is the temptation to say, year after year, “Oh, we’ve got until 2030”.
The fact that the government wants to continue doing everything itself and cannot see that this is the classic definition of insanity means we have madmen running the place. And people are voting for them! God help us.
Eric Carter, Via email
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