The evil of poverty and inequality hangs like a dark cloud over South Africa’s economy. To eliminate it will require great caution and success will depend in large part on which of the two areas focus will be given,” said Adv. Anton Alberts, the FF Plus parliamentary spokesman for economics.
Adv. Alberts said, with the parliamentary debate on strategies to grow the economy, if the emphasis was placed too strongly on inequality, that would inevitably lead to a situation where everyone in the country would be as poor as the ruling elite. Examples of this are Zimbabwe, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and the former Soviet Union’s Soviet Union.
He said that if the focus is on the problem of poverty, the realization will underline the need for a strategy that will allow the economy to grow with associated job creation. In this way, people are lifted in a dignified manner and are not dependent on handouts from the government.
“Over time, as the middle class grows, then inequality problems are addressed. History shows many examples where the emphasis on economic growth has raised countless people out of poverty, such as Europe, especially Eastern Europe after the Cold War, England, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Canada, the US, and recently China and Mauritius.”
“The common denominator here is that all the countries used a free-market system, encouraged entrepreneurship and maintained a responsible fiscal policy. A healthy business environment was created with the focus on the word ‘free’ which means a comfortable environment without unnecessary government interference.”
“Unfortunately, the ANC government puts emphasis on the extinction of inequality and not on economic growth and we are now beginning to reap the benefits in the form of virtually no economic growth, job losses, downgrades, and eventually increasing inequality.”
“What the ANC government is currently doing is making us all poorer, and if the trend continues, everyone will soon be equal in the form of equal poverty.”
“In order to avoid this, quality education is needed, better health care, less government interference in the business sector and the removal of the racial card from the economy. Only a new, open and clean government not contaminated with cadres, tenderpreneurs, Gupta elements, can do it.”
“The question is whether the ANC government will be able to do introspection and see and act on these facts. This is a question that can only be answered by the government. And they must realize that the electorate is watching,” said Adv. Alberts.
Read the original article in Afrikaans on Die Vryburger
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