President Zuma is out of touch with reality
The Presidency's response to The Economist article, ‘Cry, the Beloved Country' yesterday reveals a President who is clearly out of touch with reality. Instead of responding with a comprehensive plan which would tackle the underlying cause of our current economic woes, the President opted to bury his head in the sand and accuse The Economist of being misleading.
It is the most revealing example yet of a President who lacks both the leadership and determination to build a high growth economy which will lift millions of South Africans out of poverty.
The President must urgently address a Joint Sitting of Parliament and announce the following steps in order to tackle the current downturn head on:
Embrace the National Development Plan (NDP) as our only economic plan, and announce its implementation by all relevant departments starting in this medium term budget cycle. It is deeply concerning that the President's response yesterday did not mention the NDP once and only referenced the New Growth Path.
Provide a clear commitment to South Africa that he puts our economy above his own re-election campaign. As the key campaigner in the race for Mangaung, the President should aknowledge publicly the very serious impact that infighting in the ANC and its tripartite alliance is having on the economy in terms of policy uncertainty and put forward a plan to prevent this negative impact.
Announce wide ranging changes to the current labour regime to ensure that wildcat strikes are ended, and that stability is returned to the economy. This must include removing the monopoly which large, COSATU-affiliated unions are afforded in the current labour legislation.
End all debate on whether nationalisation remains an agenda for discussion in the tripartite alliance. The President must be prepared to stand up to COSATU, SACP and other populists within the ANC, and ensure that the economy is placed first above their narrow political interests.
Introduce a comprehensive ‘Marshall Plan' to fix our faltering education system. The statement referenced neither government's poor performance in education, nor this year's textbook crisis.
Pledge to make public all performance contracts for Ministers in his cabinet immediately and undertake to remove non-performing Ministers without hesitation. Good, clean governance is essential to ensure investor confidence in our economy. This must be coupled with an announcement that cadre deployment is no longer a policy of the ANC and its alliance partners.
Provide details, targets and timeframes for his announced programme of action on the economy which will be led by a number of ministers. As the head of the executive, if these are not met then he must take action against the responsible Ministers.
Reassure Parliament that they will receive regular briefings by himself on the progress of this plan, to ensure real accountability and oversight.
During this turbulent time, South Africa needs vision, the political determination to implement far-reaching reforms and the bold leadership to lead the way in doing so.
To date, President Zuma has shown himself incapable of satisfying these conditions. If he does not want to be remembered as the President who broke our economy, then he must get his head out of the sand and get on with the job of leading.
Statement issued by Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, DA Parliamentary Leader, October 22 2012
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