South Africa needs nothing less than bold reforms capable of giving citizens a realistic chance of getting ahead through much faster economic growth, increased employment, effective socio-economic empowerment, and a sustainable safety net that helps integrate even the poorest into an innovative and expanding economy.
This is the thrust of the IRR Growth Strategy, which the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) submitted to this week’s Multi-Party National Convention, meeting at Kempton Park in Johannesburg to begin fashioning a post-ANC turnaround.
More detail on the thinking behind the IRR Growth Strategy will be presented by its author, IRR CEO John Endres, in a webinar on Thursday morning next week.
In a statement, the IRR says its proposals ‘provide a credible foundation for sustainable growth rates of 7% of GDP within a decade – provided the Eskom growth constraint is removed and the policy environment is appropriately reformed. This will allow South Africa to combat unemployment, poverty and inequality, live up to its great potential, and emerge as a prosperous middle-income economy by the 2030s.’
The Institute notes that, as opposition parties ‘show they are serious about taking on the increasingly weak and ineffectual ruling party, the time has come to focus on the bold reforms needed to make a real change in the country’.
It warns that ‘(anything) less will only prolong the pain’.
‘The IRR Growth Strategy will have a measurable impact on investment, growth, employment, and income levels within 18 months. It will restore confidence in the economy, which is at a low ebb after many years of bad policy, anaemic growth, corruption, and lacklustre governance.
‘The proposals are also inexpensive compared to those calling for massive stimulus, through state infrastructure spending, for example.
‘Moreover, the IRR’s suggested reforms would quickly turn the mood in the country around, dispelling the widespread feeling of despondency and helplessness.’
However, to achieve ‘all these good things’, South Africa needed ‘a fundamental shift towards greater individual freedom and self-reliance, along with the removal of key impediments to growth and investment’.
‘South Africans cannot be united by “social cohesion” summits or attempts to forge “social compacts”. But they will unite behind a plan to rebuild their own lives and, at the same time, reconstruct their country.’