STEVEN FRIEDMAN: There's nothing radical about the ANC's policy proposals
'It’s not radical, nor will it achieve its stated aim, because it doesn’t suggest ways of moving the economy from its current pattern'
There’s nothing radical about trying to fix what doesn’t work by making it work better, which is why the economic transformation discussion document released by South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), is not really radical. The document is also unlikely to renew the economy, ensure that more people are included and create conditions for sustained growth. It was released recently as part of the ANC’s preparation for its conference at the end of this year. They’re always preceded by a mid-year policy conference, which is meant to agree on resolutions to be put to the conference. It’s ANC practice to release policy discussion documents in preparation for these meetings – hence the economic document. The party’s leaders point out that it doesn’t express ANC policy since delegates at the conferences could reject it. But it does give an important sense of the thinking of the party’s economic policy strategists. In keeping with the current ANC rhetoric, the doc...
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