AGRICULTURE AND LAND REFORM
XHANTI PAYI: Radical change must be rooted in the soil
If politicians know how to do one thing, it is to use words and language for their own purposes. It is not what they say that we should care about, but what they mean. It is in that spirit that I have been listening to the re-emergence of the phrase "radical economic transformation". On the occasion of the ANC January 8 statement, President Jacob Zuma reintroduced radicalism into our economic language. He went on to repeat it during his state of the nation address. He sought to indicate, it seems, that we are on an elevated path to contending with the economic and social challenges we face. Of course, it is not difficult to forgive the sceptics who reckon this is just more political rhetoric. It wasn’t until Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, carrying the nation’s cheque book, reiterated the president’s language that it seemed there might be something to this new sense of radicalism. That faith lasted until I paid attention to the detail of his speech. Politicians are known the world ...
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