Solidarity’s economic recovery plan gives hope and a warning at the same time

10 July 2024

South Africa’s economic potential is hampered  by its own doing and yet it does not have be the case at all.

The Solidarity Research Institute’s (SRI) economic recovery plan was launched today in which this warning, as well as a message of hope, is given to South Africans.

A copy of this plan was also handed to the National Treasury in Pretoria, and the hope is expressed that it would after all now be possible to put one’s trust in meaningful economic policies.

According to Theuns du Buisson, an economic researcher at the SRI, growth is essential for the state to first get its finances in order without putting further pressure on citizens due to taxation. 

He highlights five priorities that the state must pursue in order to achieve this:

•    The establishment and maintenance of infrastructure
•    A light tax burden that is predictable
•    A stable currency
•    A well-trained workforce
•    The upholding of law and order

Although the South African economy is in serious trouble according to almost all criteria, major intervention can begin to make a difference.

“It is indeed possible to change course, even now. Solidarity believes that strong economic growth forms the basis for a strong South Africa in which all communities will come into their own.

“This report proposes a clear plan in terms of which such strong, sustained growth will be achieved,” Du Buisson said.

Solidarity hopes that in the weeks following the election, in which so much political change was achieved, attention will be given to proposals that can benefit the South African economy immediately as well as in the long term. 

“We hope that the new administration, now that its strong ideological handcuffs are slightly loosened, will be able to start making better decisions regarding the economy. Only then can attention be given to challenges such as poverty and inequality.

“This is an opportunity to head in a direction that we know can work, as it has worked elsewhere. What is needed, however, is the willingness to recognise this and to then take action,” Du Buisson said.

Du Buisson says some of the proposals in the SRI’s economic recovery plan, such as those on a universal basic income, are not as instrumental for growth as he would prefer it to be, but they are nevertheless still the only way out in the current circumstances.

“Of course. the grant system remains undesirable, because it keeps people state-dependent. Since so many people are already dependent, the best solution for the time being is to make it more streamlined with a clear outline of when and under which circumstances it would finally be terminated,” he said.

The SRI’s complete economic recovery plan can be read here.

Issued by Theuns du Buisson, Economic research, Solidarity Research Institute, 10 July 2024