Ditch Redistribution 2.0 in favour of overarching poverty reduction policy
Politicians are choosing the expedient populist route ahead of the election instead of tackling the root problem
The run-up to the election should be disentangling how SA’s political and economic woes reinforce each other. Political parties should be fiercely competing to best frame the issues and provide solutions. Instead, policy debates remain inconsequential. With policy shortfalls set to compound, conscientious citizens must develop their voices to buttress their voting. The ANC’s covenant with its constituents presumes universal economic freedom will follow universal political freedom. While this was always going to involve considerable redistribution, over-reliance on redistribution has sabotaged growth prospects to the point where poverty and debt traps have been tripped. Cleaning up corruption is insufficient to fix this. Prior to 1994 policies restricting access to opportunities and resources made poverty nearly ubiquitous among blacks. Policy reversals then led to black poverty bottoming out several years ago at about 60%. It is now near two-thirds, reflecting post-1994 policy remed...
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