We need to rethink meaning of national interest with so many sectors at war with each other
Concepts of the national interest inevitably lead to contestation. Visions of what is good for society are often, in fact, the interests of a particular sector. The concept of national interest is often used when a state is at war, but in SA, where sectors are virtually at war with each other, it seems apposite. SA is a particularly fraught arena, with unionists opposing the National Development Plan (NDP) and the national minimum wage, groups such as Solidarity and AfriForum contesting affirmative action and BEE, opposition parties contesting government plans for economic renewal, and the governing party at war with itself over state capture. The failure of social dialogue forum the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) to forge an agenda agreed between the government, business and labour is a symptom of this lack of consensus on the way forward. Its failure reflects its constituencies’ failure to take the point of view of the social whole. A sort of transcenden...
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