The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) warned that the coalition government led by the African National Congress (ANC) and the ultra-conservative employers’ blue-eyed boys in the Democratic Alliance (DA), will hasten doomsday for the working class and the marginalised poor black majority.All signs of the first hundred days of this government, which was wrongly called the Government of National Unity (GNU), vindicate the SAFTU position.
The GNU elicited ecstatic enthusiasm amongst the mainstream commentariat when it was first assembled. With fanfare, the commentariat informed us that the presence of the DA as the critical component of the GNU inaugurates an era of clean governance, balanced government finances, investment for economic growth, non-racialism and prosperity. The local and international financial markets rallied behind the GNU, as witnessed by the strengthening of the rand from R19/$ in early June to nearly R17/$ today. And at a time that fixed capital investment measures are in the doldrums, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange casino has since June, consistently soared to new records, with the index nearly doubling from its low point of March 2020.
Giving a speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, the 24th of September, President Cyril Ramaphosa repeated the general sentiments of the mainstream commentariat: “We have just held our seventh free and fair general elections since our democracy, paving the way for the formation of the government of national unity. Ten political parties have coalesced around a common agenda for economic growth, job creation, poverty eradication and sustainable development. South Africa is in a new era of great promise.”
He went on, “We have laws to advance equality, and programmes to protect society’s most marginalized. We continue to transform our economy so that it is more competitive, creates more jobs, attracts more investment, and benefits all… As signatory to the Paris Agreement, we are contributing our fair share towards the global effort, and have a Just Energy Transition
Plan to guide our low-carbon, climate resilient development.”
In reality, the worsening of unemployment (partly due to cut-price ‘dumped’ imports), poverty, inequality and environmental degradation cannot be denied. Below, we briefly assess how South Africa has fared thus far on some of the ambitious United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals and its trajectory since the GNU took office 100 days ago. It is not fair to blame the terrible balance sheet on the last 100 days – because the real economy’s degeneration mostly reflects 30 years of neoliberal, neocolonial economic programmes adopted by the ANC. But since all these GNU parties agree with the tenets of the ANC economic programme, it will be fair to assume that this disastrous pro-rich and anti- poor trajectory will continue.
“End poverty everywhere in all its forms.”
The masses of the working classes continue to languish in poverty – with hunger and utter destitution their daily reality. Over thirty million of the country’s population live in poverty, defined as the upper bound poverty line of R992; although StatsSA consistently undercounts by 10% according to University of Cape Town researchers, leaving us to believe that two thirds of our society can be considered poor. About twenty million people in South Africa are food insecure, and 27% of the children are malnourished. This unnecessary stunting – at a time of agricultural exports (mainly by corporate and white farms) will exceed R200 billion in 2024, a new record – is a shameful reflection of capitalist market failure, with the most minimal, tokenistic state grants meant to mollify the starving masses.
The GNU has not announced an anti-poverty strategy or commitment to the redistribution of wealth (from the rich to the poor). In fact, the GNU monetary and fiscal policies – overseen by the International Monetary Fund thanks to conditions on the unnecessary 2020 loan of $4.3 billion – will continue to redistribute wealth from the poor to the rich.
“Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunity for all.”
With the GNU shamelessly bent on austerity, the goal of access to equitable and inclusive quality education needs to be revised. The Department of Basic Education faces budget cuts of up to R118 billion rands in the coming three years. These cruel cuts have resulted in a decline in budget allocations to the provinces. In the most publicised case, the Western Cape Provincial government will not renew the employment contracts of 2400 teachers. But worse, KZN province – with the largest education system in the country – has a budget shortfall of R4 billion and is due to lay off 11,092 teachers as a result. Gauteng province has had to reduce learner transport and is unable to expand early childhood development. Mpumalanga has a budget shortfall of R876 million; North West province has a shortfall of R484 million.
Institutions of higher education are desperately searching for funds to counter the NSFAS budget cuts. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s high regard in financial markets is well deserved – but the disinvestment in South Africa’s youth will haunt our society and economy for generations, as a result.
“Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”
Across the country, there is a shortage of healthcare professionals and personnel thanks to the budget cuts the national Treasury has embarked upon. Through attrition, vacant posts are not filled, leaving the public health care system, which caters for 84 % of the population, understaffed and thus unable to execute its mandate of providing access to health care. Answering questions in parliament, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi pointed out that due to budget cuts, the Free State alone faced a 22.% vacancy rate of doctors, followed by Mpumalanga at 18.5%, which is closely followed by Limpopo province at 17.6%. The much- publicised National Health Insurance has been aborted.
“Decent work and economic growth”
According to the 2nd Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2024, unemployment, including those discouraged who have given up looking for jobs and are economically inactive, is now 13.1 million. Unemployment increased from 8.2 million in the first quarter to 8.4 million in the 2nd quarter.
There is a rise in precarious jobs that offer no work security, inadequate pay and no benefits. Manufacturing jobs that are more secure and better paying continue to be culled. South Africa has lost nearly 50% of its manufacturing output since late-apartheid neoliberal policies began in 1990, from 24% of GDP then to 12% today. The phenomenon of the working poor is driving inequalities, making our country the most unequal society in the world; Johannesburg is the most unequal city on earth, and Cape Town is fifth most unequal.
Thus, the working class continues to be the target of the brutal capitalist economy. On these and other themes of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including gender equality, affordable clean energy, clean water and sanitation, and the reduction of inequality, South Africa has fared dismally.
The social-economic ills briefly outlined above are a legacy of the ANC’s 30-year-long mismanagement of the economy, inherited from greedy white rulers who from the late 1980s began privatising, budget cutting on social programmes, raising interest rates and liberalising exchange controls. However, contrary to the President’s grand proclamations at the UN General Assembly, we contend that the GNU will not remedy any of the named ills.
Our analysis informs us of our position on the political and class character of the parties party to the GNU. A cursory reading of the manifestos of both ANC and the DA reveals both parties’ commitment to austerity budgets, to inflation targeting as the vital pillar of monetary policy, and to the overall neo-liberal strategy of growing the economy by “creating a conducive environment for business to thrive.”
The GNU is already 100 days in office, yet the economy registered a pitiable growth of 0.4 % in the second quarter—a period from April to June. Unemployment increased from 8.2 million to 8.4 million in the same period. The promised investment, courtesy of the presence of the DA in the GNU, has yet to materialise, as evidenced by the stagnant growth of gross capital formation.
Further, an attack on hard-won workers’ rights is underway. The precursor to these attacks was the DA’s march on the COSATU House against the minimum wage laws just before the elections. These attacks take the explicit form of reversals in laws that protect workers from exploitation.
One hundred days on, our position has been vindicated. The working class is left with no option but to mobilise in defence of its interests against the determined, systematic, and organised attacks launched by the GNU, expressed most clearly by the budget cuts unleashed by Treasury and the still exceptionally high interest rates imposed by the SA Reserve Bank.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?mibextid=oFDknk&v=497776389791896&rdid=5yjViWztwhvIrZcg
