Against the backdrop of increased unemployment in the past 10 years in South Africa, the country needs a “green revolution” in which the government plays a key role in branding and promoting South African produce and products, says Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
Speaking in the debate on Tuesday on Friday’s State of the Nation address by President Thabo Mbeki, Buthelezi said South Africa needs to put to work “at least one million of our people” in the agricultural field.
“Throughout the country much of our land is underutilised for low-added value, non- labour intensive, but land intensive produce and products. Yet, throughout the world there is an increasing demand for high-added value agricultural products, generated on the basis of labour-intensive, but not land-intensive, agricultural practices.
“Our government should brand, promote and market South African produce around the world the same way Spain, Italy or California have done with theirs.
“This is not only to include our wines, but also our grapes, our spices, our tropical fruits and nuts, our olive oil and our canned vegetables to be produced through our green revolution. We should not import wheat or avocados as we do at present, but should rather become the quality vegetable, spice and fruit emporium of the world. I believe this can and must be done.”
Turning to the country’s industrial base, Buthelezi, who served as minister of home affairs until April last year, said: “Our government must invest to promote an industrial base for South Africa, so that our people can be employed in the long term.
“This should be premised on a plan which identifies today, not tomorrow, the products and services that South Africa will produce in the next 30 years for the global markets.
“I fear that there is not enough awareness of the catastrophic effect of this lack of a long-term plan, capable of developing a competitive, industrial, high technological and scientific base for our country.
“We must be able to compete internationally. Our government has pushed the agenda of international aid and assistance, which is commendable, but has neglected the domestic agenda of long-term productivity, competitiveness and economic growth, which is deplorable both in itself, and as a symptom of a mindset we must overcome.”
Buthelezi, who leads South Africa’s third-biggest political party, said many years ago it was promised that the country would bring about extensive privatisation.
“After Cosatu [the Congress of South African Trade Unions] and the SACP [South African Communist Party] halted this programme, our government is still holding numerous public enterprises which have little or nothing to do with its business of government.
“As always, we the taxpayers will end up footing the bill for the mismanagement of many companies and enterprises, which are not core to the business of government.”
In the few instances in which some privatisation has taken place, “often it has not been coupled with returning the relevant assets to the dynamics of a free market, thereby changing public monopolies into private ones. This has been the case with Telkom, which compels us all to suffer some of the highest costs for telecommunications in the world.” — I-Net Bridge