Not only must economic growth be accelerated, but the quality of that growth must be transformed in the interests of overcoming unemployment, poverty and inequality, writes Gwede Mantashe.
The African National Congress’s vision of economic transformation takes as its starting point the Freedom Charter’s call that the people shall share in the country’s wealth. Since 1994 the ANC has made substantial progress in transforming the economy to benefit the majority, but serious challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality remain. Linked to this are the challenges of transforming the health and education sectors and the strengthening of the criminal justice system.
Answering these challenges means we must simultaneously accelerate economic growth and transform the quality of that growth. The skewed patterns of ownership and production, the spatial legacies of our apartheid past and the tendencies of the economy towards inequality, dualism and marginalisation will not recede automatically as economic growth accelerates.
Decisive action is required. There are many policies and programmes on which we can build. Other policies require review, which relate to poor institutional coherence and co-ordination within the state.
Accelerating growth and transforming the economy require an effective, democratic and developmental state. The ANC’s understanding of a developmental state is that it is located at the centre of a mixed economy. It leads and guides that economy and intervenes in the interests of the people.
The recent global economic crisis will affect South Africa’s economic growth and pose challenges for job creation and other goals. It will also affect the country’s systemic points of vulnerability — currency volatility, the current account and inflationary pressures.
The ANC will seek the electorate’s approval of its assertion that education and health should be at the centre of the country’s social development programme for the next five years.
We need to develop our human potential to respond to the needs of a changing society and world. This is central to improving the lives of all our people and eradicating poverty and under-development.
The ANC will also seek to establish a comprehensive and sustainable social security system that responds to the immediate needs of the poor, advancing from survival interventions to ones that enable the poor and vulnerable to enter the mainstream of economic activity.
The ANC will also intensify the fight against crime.
Crime undermines the right to life and dignity and weakens efforts to tackle poverty and grow the economy.
South Africa’s international engagements will remain a priority. We will work to ensure that Southern Africa becomes a significant economic bloc, we will be involved in efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts and assist the development of democracy on the continent.
Since 2004 the ANC has demonstrated its capacity to respond to the needs of the people.
The achievements of the past five years provide a solid foundation for a mandate that advances the country’s transformation still further.
Gwede Mantashe is the secretary general of the ANC