Race card increasingly played to divert attention from ANC’s failure as government

12 March 2021

The country’s social problems must urgently be addressed to improve people's standard of living. Unfortunately, it seems as if the ANC is not motivated to do so and is, therefore, increasingly using the race card to try and cover up its failure as government.

Apart from a select few cadres, nearly all South Africans’ standard of living is deteriorating under ANC rule.

Unemployment in the country has reached nearly 33% and expanded unemployment, which includes people who are no longer actively looking for a job, nearly 43%. A total of 23 000 qualified individuals leave the country every year, while 25 million people, that is nearly half of the population, are dependent on social grants.

The latter is not an achievement, it is a shame and clear proof that the government's policy is destroying the country's economy.

The monetary value of power and water problems, poor local government and financial losses due to fraud and corruption is estimated to be R1 trillion. That is money that could have gone a long way to help solve the country's social problems.

The FF Plus will never approve of any form of discrimination, especially not in the workplace. Appointments must be made based on merit so that the best people for the job can serve the community.

In terms of the Employment Equity Act, the government wants to intensify the legal prescripts for transformation targets in the workplace for certain sectors. That comes down to quotas. And as a result, free-market principles are being trampled.

Dictating to businesses who they may appoint, how much they must pay and with whom they are allowed to do business is counterproductive.

An example is the national minimum wage increases of 16% for agricultural and 23% for domestic workers.

It is certainly not right to exploit people and when employers can afford to pay proper salaries, they must do so.

The measure should be affordability, which will increase along with economic growth. The blame for the fact that people are poorly paid must be laid at the door of the government.

During the lockdown, 250 000 domestic workers lost their jobs. Their former employers are also breadwinners and many of them were retrenched or suffered a loss of income. They are unable to afford a 23% increase in wages.

Similarly, the agricultural sector will have no choice but to let people go. And yet the government paid no attention to this sector's submissions about the increase in wages. The same goes for the hospitality and food industry, where the Department of Labour made a unilateral decision about compensation.

While the government is making it more and more difficult for working-class taxpayers to survive economically, the very same people are expected to employ the growing number of jobseekers and to compensate them as the government prescribes.

It appears as if the government wants to run the private sector like a public enterprise – and everyone knows what happened to Eskom, the SAA and other enterprises. The outcome will simply be a further declining economy and greater unemployment.

Issued by Heloïse Denner, FF Plus MP and chief spokesperson: Labour, 12 March 2021