SA doesn’t have a transformation problem. It has a growth problem. And until we begin with that obvious, unavoidable truth, every new policy paper, every lofty acronym, every “R100bn” silver bullet aimed at fixing our economic past will simply yield the outcomes we have always got over the past 30 years of trying.

Three recent developments encapsulate the dysfunction at the heart of our transformation agenda: the controversial Employment Equity Amendment Act, the still-hazy R100bn Transformation Fund, and Daybreak Farms. Each in its own way reveals a state intent on tightening its grip on economic levers it does not fully understand, while preaching the language of empowerment, but practising the politics of patronage...

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