Boardroom tails
ANN CROTTY: Zimbabwe had a safety valve, we don’t
What happens when citizens have nowhere left to go?
The good news, as South Africans stare down the barrel of "radical economic transformation", is that we’re not going to end up like Zimbabwe. Sadly, it’s also the bad news. It’s not just that we have a more industrialised/urbanised population. Around 25% of Zimbabweans (black and white) have left the country after failing to eke out a reasonable living. Most (as many as 3m by some estimates) have ended up in SA. Others have gone to the UK or Australia. If 25% of South Africans (black and white) are unable to eke out a living after a few years of radical economic transformation where are they going to go? There is nowhere left to go. It’s not just that there are no more large vibrant African economies they can head to. No country is prepared to take in refugees in any sort of number.This means there is no safety valve, which in turn means the pressure on a dismally performing government will be unrelenting. Consider the Zimbabweans you know. They are more likely than not vibrant, kee...
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