Only the open, opportunity society will overcome the legacy of apartheid
For the past ten years, the Democratic Alliance has summarized its vision for South Africa as an "open, opportunity society for all". From time to time it is important to revisit and unpack this vision. I do so again this week following an ANC public representatives' description of this concept as "hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo".At times like this, one realizes what a long way we have to go in understanding the values underpinning our constitution.
The history of civilization is to a large extent the history of a duel between those who wanted a free, open society with equal opportunities for all and those who wanted a closed society with special status for a select few and with opportunities only available through their patronage. The progress of civilization is measured largely by the ascendancy of the former over the latter. In every instance, over centuries, victory for those who believed in an open, equal opportunity society always resulted in an advance in human welfare. Every defeat for them resulted in more poverty and inequality.
This progress has been called the transition from status to contract. The subservience of some people to others on the grounds of social status gave way to a voluntary contract between free people regardless of their status. The serf who was forced to work for his feudal lord was replaced by a free person who only worked for another if they both voluntarily agreed on a contract of employment.
Apartheid was precisely an attack on the open, equal opportunity society by racial vested interest who wanted the status of a white skin to prevail over free contract between people. Apartheid deliberately denied equal opportunities to black people.
Closely matching the duel between those who wanted an open society and those who wanted a closed one was a duel between those who believed that ability is dispersed among all people, and those who believed that certain nations and races were superior to others. It is fascinating to look back on the confident assertions of racial superiority/inferiority of the past.
It is interesting to see the patronizing assumption of racial superiority in the following quote by a European visitor to a foreign country in 1867. Guess to which country and people he was referring.
"Wealthy we do not think *** will ever become. The advantages conferred by Nature, with the exception of the climate, and the love of indolence and pleasure of the people themselves forbid it. The *** are a happy race; and being content with little are not likely to achieve much."
The answers are Japan and the Japanese. Today, of course, Japan, with few natural resources, is the second biggest economy on Earth, and her "indolent" people are regarded with awe for their industry and skill, producing the most technically advanced products of the highest quality. Japan for historical reasons was technically backward in the 19th Century compared with Western countries. She rapidly overcame this disadvantage. She did not do so with special favours from "the West" nor did she plead to be regarded as a victim of the world economic order. She did so by mastering technology and then seizing the opportunities for development and trade. It should be noted that some in Japan herself doubted she could ever catch up with the West. Her Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) advised Japanese manufacturers that they should not make motor cars because America and Europe were so advanced in this field that the playing field was so unlevel, that Japanese companies could never compete. They ignored this advice. Today Toyota has overtaken almost all European and American motor manufacturers.
Other South Eastern nations, such as South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, also far behind the West fifty years ago, also with few natural resources, are now advanced and successful open economies.
Economic success for a country does not depend on size, race, natural resources or history. It depends primarily on whether the country has the rule of the law, an open society and equal opportunities. If it does, it will be successful and lift people out of poverty. If it does not, it will not. There are spectacular examples in recent times. The state has a crucial role to play in this process. But the state must understand its role, and fulfill it, not try to usurp the functions of the private sector, pick winners, and crowd out competition. In particular, a state like South Africa's, with such limited capacity, must focus on the functions that facilitate economic growth: an effective criminal justice system; an excellent education system, and infrastructure (from public transport to electricity reticulation) without which private investment does not happen.
In 1945, West and East Germany comprised the same people with the same history. This was also true of South and North Korea. In both cases, one country went the route of communism, a closed society with opportunities reserved for the ruling elite, and the other went for an open society with equal opportunities. West Germany and South Korea prospered and flourished. East Germany and North Korea stagnated and became impoverished. The great irony in this is that the systems that promised to benefit the poor, ended up impoverishing everyone. Those that focused on creating equal opportunities lifted millions out of poverty. That is our biggest challenge in South Africa.
Throughout the ages, powerful elites - tribal chiefs, royal families, feudal aristocracies, communist politbureaus, fascist fuhrers, racial supremacists, political oligarchies, corporate cartels and trade union monopolies - have used one excuse after another to justify why their denial of equal opportunities is somehow good for the people.
Apartheid did the same. It said that Africans could not possibly compete against Europeans and therefore had to be forcibly sheltered from them in their own "homelands". It used white job reservation to deny black people equal opportunities.
The legacy of apartheid was a highly unequal society. Blacks were far poorer than whites and had worse education, housing and health care. The remedy for this is to remove all the clasps and shackles of apartheid and give full and equal opportunities to black people in an open society. Economic empowerment is essential and must focus on increasing access to real opportunities, not seeking to manipulate outcomes by appointing a small, politically connected elite into top positions.
Unfortunately the ANC Government is repeating many of the prejudices and fallacies of apartheid and, like apartheid, promoting a two tier society. The ANC, like the apartheid government, is bent on racial preferment and cronyism instead of equalizing opportunities. Its approach demands compulsory racial classification. And this has quickly degenerated into a fig-leaf, providing a convenient excuse to make political appointments under the guise of affirmative action.
But ANC leaders do not follow this approach when choosing services for themselves. The most precious things in our lives are our children. How people choose schools for their children tells you more than anything else about their true political convictions. When choosing schools for their own children, ANC leaders do not choose schools that show the most correct "demographic representivity" of teachers. They usually choose schools where teachers are appointed on the basis of their ability and commitment to do a good job. This is because they want their own children to have the best opportunities. The DA wants all parents to be able to choose, like ANC leaders, the best schools for their children. Similarly when ANC leaders are choosing their own doctors and lawyers they choose those who are fittest for the intended purpose -- not racial considerations.
ANC leaders are essentially promoting a two tier system of services. For themselves, they want the service providers to be appointed on their qualifications and their record. For everybody else, they want the service providers to be appointed on race and political affiliations.
If decisions are made on the basis of race, according to the dictates of the ruling elite, this rapidly narrows down to preferment for people with the correct political connections and family ties. This is the nature of patronage and it is the antithesis of equal opportunities.
Suppose you approached a poor black community suffering from water borne disease and bad sanitation, and you asked them whether they wanted the municipal engineer responsible for their water treatment and sewerage to be appointed because of his qualifications and experience or because of his links to the ruling ANC. What would they answer?
The ANC's denial of equal opportunities in favour of patronage and racial preferment does not correct the legacy of apartheid. It perpetuates it. It cements inequality. It fosters racist stereotypes. It brings worse services to the poor black majority, especially in education and healthcare.
The DA recognizes that some people are so poor that they need help to enter our economy. That is why we are in favour of a Basic Income Grant. We are also in favour of giving proportionally more state money to disadvantaged schools. We want to invest particularly heavily in education for disadvantaged children. But the purpose of these measures is to promote equal opportunities.
There has never been a moment in history when all countries and all people within those countries have enjoyed exactly equal wealth and advantage. But the best way, indeed the only way, of reducing these inequalities is by an open society and equal opportunities for all, where all people are free to realize their own gifts and hopes and genius and to contribute to society with their own skill and energy. This is the fundamental philosophy of the DA. It is the very antithesis of "hocus pocus mumbo jumbo". It is the only way to overcome poverty and underdevelopment.
This article by Helen Zille first appeared in SA Today, the weekly online newsletter of the leader of the Democratic Alliance, June 26 2009
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