PATRONAGE POLITICS
Risky to place inclusive economy on hold
The cure is fake but the disease is real. Which is why the ANC patronage politicians’ newest propaganda campaign may be less important than how its critics react to it. During December, the ANC patronage faction ratcheted up a strategy that began last year: it paints their bid to get their hands on the Treasury as a valiant fight against minority rule. It was repeated loudly last month by the president and other members of the faction, and we will no doubt hear this refrain again and again during the year. The campaign to protect the Treasury and the government in general from politicians and business people who want to turn them into their personal property is really, the patronage faction claims, about doing the bidding of rich white people who control the economy. The problem is not that the state is in danger of capture but that those who want to return it to their rightful owners are being vilified. Damage to the economy will, over time, hurt the white business elite and their ...
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