Ramaphosa vague about plan to grow economy: Question of whether it is feasible remains
1 June 2020
President Cyril Ramaphosa's ideas to get the economy up and running again will remain mere plans if they are not combined with practical, feasible proposals. Last week, he had an online conversation with the South African National Editors' Forum about his plans to rebuild the economy.
As premise for his recovery plan, he said that the current economic dispensation was built on racism and colonialism and this goes to show that any plan that arises from it is doomed to fail.
The reality, however, is that the current economic dispensation is built on Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and Affirmative Action (AA) and that makes it inherently racist.
The President's statement raises the question of whether Black Economic Empowerment will play a greater role in the economy in the future. He also said that the economy must be locally directed and that the country must produce its own food. This demonstrates that President Ramaphosa is out of touch with reality seeing as the country is indeed producing its own food.