LETTER: ANC conference shows up party’s frozen mindset

Some of the motions debated at the ANC policy conference have disturbing implications. They reveal what can only be termed a static mindset; a view of a society that is fixed in time and space.

It is a tangible, immutable perspective. The proponents of the motions to take back the land, nationalise the Reserve Bank and raise hundreds of billions of rand from the rich hark back to a world where nothing changes, and the way to get ahead is to plunder your neighbour.

This is tragically misguided. The modern world does not constitute a mere physical landscape, an arena for contestation and conflict. The global  world of today — which really does exist beyond the frozen minds of ANC redistributionists — is akin to a gigantic neural network.

The role of any state should be to guide and provide a framework for the infinitely complex interactions in this societal  network, much as the human frame nurtures and carries the quarter of a million kilometres of blood vessels in the body, and the equivalent neurological pathways.

The proponents of redistribution do not see that wealth in today’s world is intangible. It exists in — and only in — the human mind. Such wealth creation can be facilitated, but not commanded. It grows in the individual human mind. It cannot be redistributed.

The path to acquiring this wealth lies in an education ethos, in seeking lifelong education. Seizing land and money will merely increase our misery. However, open and curious minds will open doors to growth and the doubling of our economy in one generation or less.

The ensuing millions of additional jobs, together with trillions of rand in additional tax, will finally achieve our great goal: a better life for all.

Willem Cronje, Cape Town

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