All South African parents have one problem in common – it is difficult to shield their children from hardship in a society like ours.
Many opt for the road with fewer homeless encampments, but even the alternative route has a beggar at the robot. However, we are often less aware of the comfort bubble we find ourselves in.
Growing up, I remember having conversations with my parents – never about the economic or political state of our country, but rather the importance of chasing your dreams, working hard, and being your best in the moment. I believed that obtaining a degree would help me get a job, and not just any job, but one I would enjoy doing.
However, when I entered the world of work, reality pierced my comfort bubble, and the belief that “you can be anything you want” was no longer a certainty.
Hard reality
Here is the hard reality that our comfort bubble insulates us from: As a newly graduated generation Z individual I have been faced with the reality that the economy is not as I thought. The probability of succeeding materially, compared to my parents, is slim. When my mother and father were my age, they owned a home but that is almost impossible for me, unless I inherit, steal or win the money to do so.
The funny thing is that no one tells you, for example, that to buy a house you need to prove that you owe money and have built up a credit score; to owe money you need to make money, and to make money you need a job. And that is a tricky thing to come by in the first place.
Here is the economic truth of the country we find ourselves living in: In June Stats SA stated that in the first quarter of 2025 unemployment expanded by a marginal 0.1% compared with the fourth quarter of 2024. Echoing those statistics, in May the data showed in the first quarter of 2025 approximately 50.2% of those aged 15 to 34 – 20.9 million individuals of working-age – are unemployed. Of these, about 10.3 million fall into Gen Z, facing the highest barriers to entering the workforce. This is not talked about at school.
Better life
The 1994 promise of freedom, peace, and a better life for all is still to be realised. Many trust that the African National Congress (ANC) will deliver on their promise, even though over the past decade unemployment rates have increased, GDP per capita has decreased and the value of the Rand has plummeted.
The goal of freedom, peace, and a better life for all stems from the common moral code all South Africans commit to, but which the government exploits for its own ends. Propaganda is an age-old method of creating a bubble mentality, instilling ideas in individuals that do not accurately reflect reality.
These policies are claimed to be good, despite being the cause of the economic failure that robs so many of my generation and those to come of the opportunity to find work at all.
The economic plan
The economic plan of South Africa contains policies such as Expropriation Act 13 of 2024, Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003, and the Appropriation Act 40 of 2024, proposed as avenues to achieve economic growth. Yet, these policies achieve the opposite. An economic plan is a set of rules, consisting of the general moral code.
Moral code defines limits on individual behaviour – ensuring freedom to act as the individual wish within those boundaries. In this case objectively good moral considerations such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the freedom to trade and free press are arguably the best economic plan to ensure maximum economic growth and individual freedom, peace and a better life for all.
Polling by the Social Research Foundation (SRF) in July 2025 asked respondents which of two initial statements they agreed with more strongly: “the government should stay out of the economy and let the private sector lead development, or the government must play a vital role in managing the economy and directing development”. The SRF split the responses by racial groups and found that 55% of black South Africans strongly agree on government intervention. 69% of white South Africans agreed with the first statement. The SRF says this finding suggests that individuals tend to believe from a theoretical perspective that government intervention would realise the promise of freedom, peace and a better life for all. The SRF included more specific questions with practical examples of state intervention.
The follow-up questions included the propositions that:
- “Government should determine where you start your business in what city, town or province”, with 69% of black South Africans and 96% of white South Africans disagreeing with this statement,
- “Government should set the prices of your products or services”, with 64.3% of black individuals and 93% of white individuals disagreeing,
- “Government should determine which staff you are allowed to employ”, with 62% of black South Africans and 93% of white South Africans disagreeing, and
- “Government should control whether it can take your business away from you and give it to someone else”, with high percentages of respondents strongly disagreeing.
The conclusion the SRF reaches is that there is a paradox between what people say and what they believe. When asked a theoretical question about the role the government should play, many South Africans agreed that the government should have a more hands-on role in managing economic activity.
When presented with practical questions individuals seemed to choose the opposite, preferring limiting the government to playing a minimal role in economic activity. As this poll appears to suggest, people are much more likely to go along with the majority sentiment. When asked a theoretical question compared to that of practical questions, opinions diverged greatly.
I believe individuals were more inclined to consider an objectively good moral position when answering the second set of detailed questions, rather than going with what they may perceive to be the majority’s belief in answering the first question.
Herd mentality
When a majority of individuals believe that the answer to a theoretical question is one thing, individuals may be less likely to go against it, but when confronted with a concrete example, the decision is more likely to be based on personal, ethical, and moral values. Theoretical questions form part of the bubble individuals finds themselves in. This herd mentality is the tendency of an individual in a group to think or behave in a similar way to the rest of the group.
If, equipped with greater economic awareness, people can succeed in breaking out of their comfort bubble and freeing themselves from the influence of propaganda, the chances of their being limited by a herd mentality will be less.
Being able to weigh policies against objectively good morals is the key to resisting the herd mentality.
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