The quest to empower blacks will be stepped up despite the pain this process might bring for some people, senior African National Congress figures said on Tuesday.
”There will be pain for many people but there is no gain without pain,” Justice Minister Penuell Maduna told reporters in Johannesburg.
”We are changing reality and nothing will stop us.”
Maduna was speaking at the release of discussion papers for the ANC’s 51st national conference later this year. He heads the party’s security and peace department.
Max Sisulu, ANC head of economic transformation, said the struggle against apartheid had been about a better life.
”If there is need for legislation to open areas that have been closed so far, so be it. Yes, there will be a bit of pain but let us work together,” he said.
”Empowerment is not an optional extra, it is an imperative. There is massive inequality and unemployment in the country.”
Public Enterprises Minister Jeff Radebe said the government intended coming up with a comprehensive empowerment strategy in the coming weeks.
”The commanding heights of the economy are still in the hands of whites. This government must change the apartheid property relations, otherwise we will not have stability.”
Maduna added: ”We should not be surprised if masses of people revolt if their (living) conditions are not addressed.”
No one in his right mind would want millions of people to continue living in misery.
”There is no other way but calculated intervention by the government. We invite people to join us in tackling this mammoth task,” Maduna said.
The ANC leaders said empowerment would be an important theme at their party’s national conference, to be held in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape from December 16 to 20.
The discussion paper on national economic empowerment points out that no clear strategy in this regard existed as yet.
It says such a plan should contain specific instruments available to targeted groups to accelerate their economic and social integration.
”There is a clear overlap between the ANC’s general transformation and developmental objectives and a national empowerment strategy.”
With the exception of sectors run by state-owned companies such as Telkom and Eskom, white-owned and controlled companies still dominate the economy.
”Blacks and women own only a fraction of the private formal sector, and are heavily under-represented in management and technical positions,” the paper notes.
”Black empowerment strategies must be located in a context of lowering barriers to entry, and growing the number of opportunities in the economy generally.”
Sisulu said unemployment would be a major focus of the conference, adding that economic growth had not been sufficient to reduce joblessness.
On this topic, the discussion paper says: ”It is clear that the fight against unemployment is our central challenge. The need for sustainable jobs is glaring.”
There are, however, no magical solutions. Unemployment in the country is a structural problem, reflecting the inequalities in ownership and skills inherited from the apartheid era.
”There is a need to identify labour-intensive activities in our economy, and find appropriate tools to promote and extend such activities on a sustainable basis,” the paper proposes.
”It is important to look at capital-labour ratios in sectors and, where appropriate, introduce incentives to change these ratios in favour of labour.”
The paper says government steps so far to tackle unemployment would have had been more effective if they had been put into effect in a more integrated manner.
It concludes: ”If government does not strengthen welfare and involve the unemployed in community development projects, we will continue to have unacceptable levels of poverty and social isolation.” – Sapa