Jobs Campaign: Economic liberation depends on making the right choices now
Note to Editors: This is an extract of the speech delivered today by Helen Zille at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), Port Elizabeth.
This has so far been a year of thorough and vigorous debate on economic policy in South Africa, and rightly so, given that the three biggest challenges facing our country today are all economic - the terrible triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
We have seen the release of the National Development Plan, the New Growth Path, the ANC's policy conference (which dealt mainly with economic issues), and most recently the launch of the DA's own economic plan - the DA's plan for 8% Growth and Jobs.
That so much attention has been given to the subject reflects the extent to which everyone is aware of the crisis. Indeed, it is no overstatement to say the most important priority of any government in South Africa today must be the question of how to get the economy growing fast enough to create jobs. That (together with significant improvements in our education system) must be the major goal of policy. We must get the economy and education working for everybody, especially young people, who are most excluded at the moment.
We believe that the DA's plan for Growth and Jobs has taken the most important lessons from countries that have made great strides in reducing poverty and including people in the economy. It is not dogmatic or filled with populist rhetoric. It takes the best evidence-based policies, combined with the cutting edge policy thinking, and applies it to the South African social context.