Focus on the cause
RALPH MATHEKGA: The missing link in SA’s policy environment
The missing link is state capacity, and nationalisation is not the solution
SA’s fascination with grand ideas knows no bounds. From as far back as the advent of democracy, arguments in favour of either a socialist model of development, characterised by nationalisation, or a mixed approach have been debated. In 1996, when the ANC adopted the Growth Employment & Redistribution policy, known as Gear, it committed itself to a mixed economy of the state having a responsibility to provide the social net while creating a viable environment for the private sector to operate in a way that ensures shared growth. One imagines that this decision has now been set aside. Recently, arguments in favour of nationalisation have re-emerged. There is nothing wrong with raising this debate, but everything wrong with avoiding a proper diagnosis to uncover the shortfalls of our economic policy thus far. Can one argue that the poor performance of our economy and the failure to transform it are due to banks and mines being privately owned, instead of nationalised? My answer is an e...
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