Date: 26/03/2004
Source: Inkatha Freedom Party
Title: M Buthelezi: Meeting with businessment at Umhlanga
I wish to thank Mr Chris Munsami for making this occasion possible and Mr Manoj Lakhani for chairing this meeting. I also wish to thank my dear sister, Zuleca Matonse, for the role that she has played in the putting together of tonight's event. I thank all of you ladies and gentlemen for sparing the time to spend some time with me tonight. The IFP has solid credentials as a business friendly party. I have always supported free enterprise, long before it became fashionable, and I believe that entrepreneurs should be rewarded for their innovation and for their capital risk taking. That is why I am delighted to have this opportunity to say a few words this evening and to hear directly your concerns, thoughts and ideas.
Over the last decade, South Africa has only achieved a disappointing average economic growth of about 2 percent over the economic cycle and almost a million jobs have been shed. It is important to grasp that the changes in South Africa's economy are taking place within the overall context of the transformation of the global economy. The world is being transformed at a bewildering pace by the information superhighway and the "dot.com" revolution. In the New Economy, everything depends on the sentiment and gut instincts of investors and traders. Currencies and commodities' flow across frontiers at the click of a mouse or a cell phone key.
Even the aircraft is no longer the last refuge of business people. The latest aircraft are wired for business people to speak on their cells and log on to the Internet. Geopolitically, there has been a redistribution of world industry away from the older industrialized economies such as the United States, Western Europe, and, to a lesser extent, Japan , and towards pacific Asia, Latin America, and other industrializing economies. We must ask ourselves where all this leaves South Africa. The conservative projections set out in the Government's macroeconomic strategy adopted seven years ago and known as GEAR, an acronym for Growth Employment and Redistribution indicated that if South Africa is to succeed in cutting through the structural conditions that produce large-scale poverty, we need to achieve sustainable economic growth of at lest six percent plus. This was not set out as a target, but as a minimum condition of success. Therefore, on the basis of its own, Government has failed to implement a strategy which could get us on the other side of the river of poverty and underdevelopment. We must ask ourselves what went wrong and how we can make it right.
Can it be done? I believe it can. From the late 1960's, the four so called Asian Tiger economies, namely Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, were small states with scare or no natural resources, but grew at an average 6 percent annually, outpacing the rest of the world. Although these emerging markets have suffered serious economic turbulence since the economic typhoon of 1997, their economic fundamentals have remained sound. They possess high savings and investment rates and first-class workforces. I have visited Taiwan on a number of occasions, and have been deeply impressed by the dynamic entrepreneurship and burgeoning prosperity of this tiny island, turning the state into the world thirteenth largest trading destination. As a result 400 expand to 3000 yarn fabrics of garment.
In South Africa, on a national level, the government tried to implement the laudatory GEAR macroeconomic policy, with much encouragement from the IFP as it reflected many of our suggestions and proposals. On this occasion, we did not mind them stealing our clothes! The bad ideas they can think up for themselves! However, critical portions of GEAR were not implemented because of the veto of COSATU and the still powerful and influential South African Communist Party. The good parts of GEAR which were implemented assisted the country to stay afloat as the ensured fiscal stability and conservative spending, however the ship went nowhere because the engines of economic growth were turned off. Important programmes such as privatization and the pursuance of greater flexibility in the labour markets were stopped almost at their outset. Others were just overlooked, such as the fundamental priority of generating a real industrial basis for South Africa or a competitive plan to attach foreign investments.
The deficit is now down. Spending and borrowing is under control. The currency is stabilising. However, predictably, the anticipated foreign direct investment has not flowed in, the rate of economic growth is not rising and we have no clear direction of where our country is going. At heart of the problem is that, I fear, the ANC remains wedded to socialist interventionism, as I said when I launched the IFP's Manifesto in January. The ruling-party still lacks a developed theory of economic growth to emulate the success of the Asian Tiger economies and adjust it to the age of globalization. I have often urged the ANC government to work with me to develop a long-term plan to provide South Africa with an industrial basis, which could identify today what type of products from which our country will earn a living in twenty years. In the age of globalization each country needs to produce enough to earn a living. The world does not owe us a living, but we have no long term plan to identify the products we will bring to the global markets to earn one.
I believe in a new economic strategy for the future. If we can liberalise the economy and achieve growth above 6 percent plus, sustainable employment opportunities will be created. The domino effect will be the reduction of the main causes of crime, despair and deprivation. And the gaping wealth gap between the richest and poorest will be narrowed. The solutions exist, what has thus far lacked has been the will power to find and implement them.
At present, our skills-base is depleted and does not match the requirements of the New Economy. Since 1994, as Minister of Home Affairs, I have at close range witnessed the depressing exodus of our professional class - "the brain drain" to other countries. Doctors, engineers, academics, scientists have left in droves to Perth, Auckland, Toronto and London. Of course in the global economy, people should be able to move across frontiers with relative ease. However, sadly, many emigrants tell me they do not really want to leave. They often say they are leaving because they are worried about violent crime and their children's future. Some tell me they are concerned that affirmative action policies are going to squeeze them out.
My message to those people, and to those here tonight who may share these concerns, is that the IFP hears you and says South Africa Ltd cannot succeed without you.
The IFP's election manifesto, 'Real Development Now', contains common sense proposals to achieve our vision of South Africa as a high wage, high-skill economy. There are no shortcuts. Education, Education, Education is the only way. We have a twelve-point plan to transform South Africa's economy by developing our skills-base. We will create a regulatory and fiscal environment to make South Africa an investment haven and replace "brain drain" with "brain gain." Our message to entrepreneurs and highly skilled people is if you add value to South Africa, if you can create opportunities, you are welcome here, irrespective from where you have come.
The IFP will continue to champion small and medium sized enterprises as the sector with the biggest potential for growth. We will slash the red tape that inhibits small business growth and assist entrepreneurs to access venture capital. Women and young people need to be prioritised. We will promote broad-based economic empowerment to benefit the many, not just an enriched elite few. The IFP is not going to sit idly on the sidelines if the ANC win the national election. On Monday, the IFP will be launching the Party's KwaZulu-Natal Growth and Development Plan, a specially tailored version of our national manifesto for the province, at the Edward Hotel in Durban. The "KZN GDP" is a bold and exciting plan of action to make the province a world class destination and investment haven.
If we win the election in KwaZulu-Natal, one of the proposals in our KZN Growth and Development is for the Office of the Premier to commission an Asian Tiger economies development study adjusted to the dynamics of the age of globalization. This study will identity in practical terms how the Asian Tigers achieved accelerated economic growth in their developmental stage and make relevant recommendations of how KwaZulu-Natal can achieve the same. The IFP believes that in the twenty-first century cities are arenas of ambition and achievement. We have long advocated developing Durban and Richard's Bay, with their magnificent deep sea harbour's, as environmentally sensitive world hub ports. This would position the cities as leading centres of trade and cargo handling in the "Butterfly Zone" between the American seaboards and East Asia.
The IFP will also support the fast track construction of King Shaka International Airport, positioning the area north of Durban as an integral part of the free port area. These, and many other initiatives, such as the creation of free industrial zones, are contained in our GDP. The IFP's approach is visionary and proactive. We believe that you, the business community, know more about business than political parties. Our role is to set the framework for entrepreneurs to create opportunities and to allow human talent to flourish. That is exactly what an IFP government, if elected, will do.
Much more can be done by an IFP led government. Once our country has a genuinely business prone government, ideas will flourish which can place South Africa on the path towards excellency and away from its present status of mediocrity. The IFP has sought to create a democratic alternative for South Africa. I have formed the Coalition for Change with the DA to give anyone the real opportunity to choose between at least two political parties which have a viable opportunity of becoming the Government of the future. Without such an opportunity, democracy remains a mere dream. Our democracy is under serious threats which many people have chosen to ignore because the consequences are too dreadful to contemplate. History is filled with tragedies which have unfolded because those who could have stopped them refused to recognise the signs of them approaching. The signs of democratic degeneration are all around us, and it is necessary for all the responsible citizens of South Africa to recognise them for what they are.
We cannot have a political party with the power to change the Constitution at whim. I myself do not wish to have such a power. The ANC has given proof of its willingness to change the Constitution not only at its will but even at its whim. On the occasion of the crossing of the floor legislation, the Constitution was tampered with to enable the ANC to gain power not through the ballot box but by wooing those who were elected. In the history of constitutionalism it is unheard of that elected political representatives could be allowed to change the terms and conditions of their mandates the way the ANC allowed them to. The major concern was that of gaining KwaZulu Natal. KwaZulu Natal has now become the very battle ground for the survival of our democracy and to prevent the consolidation of an otherwise rapidly emerging one party State. This is the time in which responsible citizens are called upon by history to be active and provide their leadership.
I am concerned about how many South Africans are standing by the side lines while being concerned about the present course of events. This is the time in which people must act on their concerns, for any delay to place the country in a situation in which it might be too late for anyone to act. If we want this to be remembered as the season of change not that of missed opportunities, the South African people must act now or face the risk of having their tardy action becoming ineffective and insignificant in changing a tide of negative events. For this reason, it is essential that the next elections empower a different and better government. This may seem too much of an ambitious goal and yet it is one which is within the reach and power of the South African people. I am convinced that the South African can produce a massive surprise at the next elections and sincerely hope that each of you may become an active participant in making this happen. This is one of the rare times in which ordinary people have the opportunity of forging a better future. I hope that this opportunity will not be lost because of inertia, complacency or the fear that such a challenge might be larger and bigger than each of us. Together we can overcome this challenge and with the help of God succeed against the odds. May God bless you.
Source: Inkatha Freedom Party
Title: M Buthelezi: Meeting with businessment at Umhlanga
I wish to thank Mr Chris Munsami for making this occasion possible and Mr Manoj Lakhani for chairing this meeting. I also wish to thank my dear sister, Zuleca Matonse, for the role that she has played in the putting together of tonight's event. I thank all of you ladies and gentlemen for sparing the time to spend some time with me tonight. The IFP has solid credentials as a business friendly party. I have always supported free enterprise, long before it became fashionable, and I believe that entrepreneurs should be rewarded for their innovation and for their capital risk taking. That is why I am delighted to have this opportunity to say a few words this evening and to hear directly your concerns, thoughts and ideas.
Over the last decade, South Africa has only achieved a disappointing average economic growth of about 2 percent over the economic cycle and almost a million jobs have been shed. It is important to grasp that the changes in South Africa's economy are taking place within the overall context of the transformation of the global economy. The world is being transformed at a bewildering pace by the information superhighway and the "dot.com" revolution. In the New Economy, everything depends on the sentiment and gut instincts of investors and traders. Currencies and commodities' flow across frontiers at the click of a mouse or a cell phone key.
Even the aircraft is no longer the last refuge of business people. The latest aircraft are wired for business people to speak on their cells and log on to the Internet. Geopolitically, there has been a redistribution of world industry away from the older industrialized economies such as the United States, Western Europe, and, to a lesser extent, Japan , and towards pacific Asia, Latin America, and other industrializing economies. We must ask ourselves where all this leaves South Africa. The conservative projections set out in the Government's macroeconomic strategy adopted seven years ago and known as GEAR, an acronym for Growth Employment and Redistribution indicated that if South Africa is to succeed in cutting through the structural conditions that produce large-scale poverty, we need to achieve sustainable economic growth of at lest six percent plus. This was not set out as a target, but as a minimum condition of success. Therefore, on the basis of its own, Government has failed to implement a strategy which could get us on the other side of the river of poverty and underdevelopment. We must ask ourselves what went wrong and how we can make it right.
Can it be done? I believe it can. From the late 1960's, the four so called Asian Tiger economies, namely Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, were small states with scare or no natural resources, but grew at an average 6 percent annually, outpacing the rest of the world. Although these emerging markets have suffered serious economic turbulence since the economic typhoon of 1997, their economic fundamentals have remained sound. They possess high savings and investment rates and first-class workforces. I have visited Taiwan on a number of occasions, and have been deeply impressed by the dynamic entrepreneurship and burgeoning prosperity of this tiny island, turning the state into the world thirteenth largest trading destination. As a result 400 expand to 3000 yarn fabrics of garment.
In South Africa, on a national level, the government tried to implement the laudatory GEAR macroeconomic policy, with much encouragement from the IFP as it reflected many of our suggestions and proposals. On this occasion, we did not mind them stealing our clothes! The bad ideas they can think up for themselves! However, critical portions of GEAR were not implemented because of the veto of COSATU and the still powerful and influential South African Communist Party. The good parts of GEAR which were implemented assisted the country to stay afloat as the ensured fiscal stability and conservative spending, however the ship went nowhere because the engines of economic growth were turned off. Important programmes such as privatization and the pursuance of greater flexibility in the labour markets were stopped almost at their outset. Others were just overlooked, such as the fundamental priority of generating a real industrial basis for South Africa or a competitive plan to attach foreign investments.
The deficit is now down. Spending and borrowing is under control. The currency is stabilising. However, predictably, the anticipated foreign direct investment has not flowed in, the rate of economic growth is not rising and we have no clear direction of where our country is going. At heart of the problem is that, I fear, the ANC remains wedded to socialist interventionism, as I said when I launched the IFP's Manifesto in January. The ruling-party still lacks a developed theory of economic growth to emulate the success of the Asian Tiger economies and adjust it to the age of globalization. I have often urged the ANC government to work with me to develop a long-term plan to provide South Africa with an industrial basis, which could identify today what type of products from which our country will earn a living in twenty years. In the age of globalization each country needs to produce enough to earn a living. The world does not owe us a living, but we have no long term plan to identify the products we will bring to the global markets to earn one.
I believe in a new economic strategy for the future. If we can liberalise the economy and achieve growth above 6 percent plus, sustainable employment opportunities will be created. The domino effect will be the reduction of the main causes of crime, despair and deprivation. And the gaping wealth gap between the richest and poorest will be narrowed. The solutions exist, what has thus far lacked has been the will power to find and implement them.
At present, our skills-base is depleted and does not match the requirements of the New Economy. Since 1994, as Minister of Home Affairs, I have at close range witnessed the depressing exodus of our professional class - "the brain drain" to other countries. Doctors, engineers, academics, scientists have left in droves to Perth, Auckland, Toronto and London. Of course in the global economy, people should be able to move across frontiers with relative ease. However, sadly, many emigrants tell me they do not really want to leave. They often say they are leaving because they are worried about violent crime and their children's future. Some tell me they are concerned that affirmative action policies are going to squeeze them out.
My message to those people, and to those here tonight who may share these concerns, is that the IFP hears you and says South Africa Ltd cannot succeed without you.
The IFP's election manifesto, 'Real Development Now', contains common sense proposals to achieve our vision of South Africa as a high wage, high-skill economy. There are no shortcuts. Education, Education, Education is the only way. We have a twelve-point plan to transform South Africa's economy by developing our skills-base. We will create a regulatory and fiscal environment to make South Africa an investment haven and replace "brain drain" with "brain gain." Our message to entrepreneurs and highly skilled people is if you add value to South Africa, if you can create opportunities, you are welcome here, irrespective from where you have come.
The IFP will continue to champion small and medium sized enterprises as the sector with the biggest potential for growth. We will slash the red tape that inhibits small business growth and assist entrepreneurs to access venture capital. Women and young people need to be prioritised. We will promote broad-based economic empowerment to benefit the many, not just an enriched elite few. The IFP is not going to sit idly on the sidelines if the ANC win the national election. On Monday, the IFP will be launching the Party's KwaZulu-Natal Growth and Development Plan, a specially tailored version of our national manifesto for the province, at the Edward Hotel in Durban. The "KZN GDP" is a bold and exciting plan of action to make the province a world class destination and investment haven.
If we win the election in KwaZulu-Natal, one of the proposals in our KZN Growth and Development is for the Office of the Premier to commission an Asian Tiger economies development study adjusted to the dynamics of the age of globalization. This study will identity in practical terms how the Asian Tigers achieved accelerated economic growth in their developmental stage and make relevant recommendations of how KwaZulu-Natal can achieve the same. The IFP believes that in the twenty-first century cities are arenas of ambition and achievement. We have long advocated developing Durban and Richard's Bay, with their magnificent deep sea harbour's, as environmentally sensitive world hub ports. This would position the cities as leading centres of trade and cargo handling in the "Butterfly Zone" between the American seaboards and East Asia.
The IFP will also support the fast track construction of King Shaka International Airport, positioning the area north of Durban as an integral part of the free port area. These, and many other initiatives, such as the creation of free industrial zones, are contained in our GDP. The IFP's approach is visionary and proactive. We believe that you, the business community, know more about business than political parties. Our role is to set the framework for entrepreneurs to create opportunities and to allow human talent to flourish. That is exactly what an IFP government, if elected, will do.
Much more can be done by an IFP led government. Once our country has a genuinely business prone government, ideas will flourish which can place South Africa on the path towards excellency and away from its present status of mediocrity. The IFP has sought to create a democratic alternative for South Africa. I have formed the Coalition for Change with the DA to give anyone the real opportunity to choose between at least two political parties which have a viable opportunity of becoming the Government of the future. Without such an opportunity, democracy remains a mere dream. Our democracy is under serious threats which many people have chosen to ignore because the consequences are too dreadful to contemplate. History is filled with tragedies which have unfolded because those who could have stopped them refused to recognise the signs of them approaching. The signs of democratic degeneration are all around us, and it is necessary for all the responsible citizens of South Africa to recognise them for what they are.
We cannot have a political party with the power to change the Constitution at whim. I myself do not wish to have such a power. The ANC has given proof of its willingness to change the Constitution not only at its will but even at its whim. On the occasion of the crossing of the floor legislation, the Constitution was tampered with to enable the ANC to gain power not through the ballot box but by wooing those who were elected. In the history of constitutionalism it is unheard of that elected political representatives could be allowed to change the terms and conditions of their mandates the way the ANC allowed them to. The major concern was that of gaining KwaZulu Natal. KwaZulu Natal has now become the very battle ground for the survival of our democracy and to prevent the consolidation of an otherwise rapidly emerging one party State. This is the time in which responsible citizens are called upon by history to be active and provide their leadership.
I am concerned about how many South Africans are standing by the side lines while being concerned about the present course of events. This is the time in which people must act on their concerns, for any delay to place the country in a situation in which it might be too late for anyone to act. If we want this to be remembered as the season of change not that of missed opportunities, the South African people must act now or face the risk of having their tardy action becoming ineffective and insignificant in changing a tide of negative events. For this reason, it is essential that the next elections empower a different and better government. This may seem too much of an ambitious goal and yet it is one which is within the reach and power of the South African people. I am convinced that the South African can produce a massive surprise at the next elections and sincerely hope that each of you may become an active participant in making this happen. This is one of the rare times in which ordinary people have the opportunity of forging a better future. I hope that this opportunity will not be lost because of inertia, complacency or the fear that such a challenge might be larger and bigger than each of us. Together we can overcome this challenge and with the help of God succeed against the odds. May God bless you.
Advertisement
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE SAVE THIS ARTICLE FEEDBACK
To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
