Former finance minister Trevor Manuel says South Africa is undergoing state failure. Speaking at a dialogue on Mandela’s Economic Legacy on Wednesday, Manuel said: "We’re in a very bad place, a very bad place as a country." "The difference between the [Nelson] Mandela era and the present is that we’ve taken too much for granted. Madiba always used economics as a means to something else, never in an end in itself. Politics is an end to personal enrichment by whatever means possible." The absence of a caring democracy produced the outcomes we’re seeing now, he said. "Madiba wasn’t given to the binary approach. You need business…. But you also need a strong trade union movement. State failure has created the problems of land that we know live through. Having been in government as a minister, I take part responsibility for those failures." Speaking about the relationship between government, business and labour, Manuel said: "Madiba focused on trust. It’s broken now, we have no trust." H...
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