The African National Congress (ANC) was not worried about differences in economic policy expressed by its alliance partners, the party said at a briefing in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
”In discussions we have identified areas where there is debate and areas where there is broad consensus … We are not worried about differences. We welcome them. We can only benefit from differences,” said Max Sisulu, member of the national executive council economic transformation committee.
The party’s economic policy has been criticised by its alliance partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party.
However, Sisulu said accelerating the implementation of the current economic policy, and not a new economic policy, was being debated ahead of next week’s policy conference.
Other topics being debated at branch level and with the alliance partners ahead of the conference included: the importance of a development state in responding to the country’s economic challenges; intervention to accelerate shared growth and halve unemployment and poverty by 2014; and pursuing policies to create employment and bridge the divide between the first and the second economies.
The South African developmental state to be discussed by the ANC had to be ”shaped by our own history” and consist of both an economic growth and a welfare component.
”It must be a development state dressed in national colours.
”Welfare goes a long way in reducing poverty. As the economy grows there is more to spend, therefore it is important to drive the economy to address the issue of poverty,” Sisulu said.
However, he emphasised that a welfare state was not sustainable and that concern had been expressed over the culture of dependency that had developed in certain provinces.
Also being debated by the ruling party was the issue of punishment for under-spending government departments.
”Something needs to be done — it can’t be right if resources are there and people don’t spend those resources,” said Sisulu.
Head of the Presidency Smuts Ngonyama said underspending was an issue being dealt with in the structures of the party. He said mechanisms to motivate and capacitate structures to spend were being developed.
While the alliance partners differ on certain issues, there is consensus around two of the major challenges: poverty and unemployment.
According to the party’s discussion document, about a third of the population continued to live in poverty and more than 35% are unemployed.
The party viewed rural development as essential in addressing these challenges.
However, the pace of rural development in the country has been slow.
Development initiatives in rural areas lacked coordination and there were no follow-ups, the document read. — Sapa