South Africa has dropped further in the United Nation's latest Human Development Index (HDI) and now ranks 129th out of 182 countries (based on data for 2007), with an overall score of 0.683. This is a drop of one position from the last report. South Africa falls into the "medium human development" category. It is disappointing to note that the overall trend is one of decline. South Africa's HDI has fallen from 0.742 in 1995. Our global ranking has consistently slumped from 85th out of 174 countries in 1990, to 120th out of 177 countries in 2003, to its current (and worst comparative) ranking in the last fifteen years, of 129th out of 182 countries. The UN's HDI report is the latest (and the most authoritative) in a long list of international indicators in which South Africa's ranking has declined. It shows that the enrichment of a few has had no impact on the grinding poverty that is the reality for the majority of our people, and exposes the truth that, since 1994, the gap between the rich and the poor has continued to grow - with the only significant change being in the racial profile of the wealthiest South Africans. Significantly it also exposes the ANC government's talk of a "developmental state", for what it is - little more than a smoke screen. It is a concept which carries the veneer of economic respectability but, scratch below the surface and the true nature of the South African state is revealed: one defined by inequality and a failure to deliver on key services. Nor is this trend anything new; there has been a systematic failure by successive ANC governments to reverse our collective fortunes. The recently released Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance measures the delivery of public goods and services to citizens by government. Although South Africa ranked 5th overall out of 53 countries (behind Mauritius, Botswana, the Seychelles and Cape Verde), it ranked only 10th in the category of "human development" and 8th in the category of "sustainable economic opportunity", coming in after Egypt and Morocco on both these measures. The UN-HDI relies on four broad criteria: ‘Life expectancy at birth (% ages 15 and above)'; ‘Adult literacy rate'; ‘Combined gross enrolment ratio' and ‘GDP per capita'. South Africa ranked as follows in each:
• Life expectancy at birth: Position 158 (Score: 51.5)
• Adult literacy: Position 80 (88.0)
• Combined gross enrolment: Position 77 (76.8)
• GDP per capita: Position 78 (9.76)
It is immediately apparent that the category which dragged South Africa down in the rankings is life expectancy - which sits in stark contrast to the scores achieved in the other three criteria. Indeed, the disparity between that score and the others suggests that, while South Africa has the resources and economy to improve human development, we are failing to implement certain basic quality of life requirements, which is why we have such a low score for life expectancy. An analysis <http://www.mailfire.co.za/link/QlJVTj0xMjI3OSZMSUQ9NDEwMDgmU0lEPTEwMTk1MzY=.aspx> of the latest HDI figures for South Africa contains some very useful insights. One graph in particular is insightful. It tracks South Africa's performance in relation to the other 26 countries with the closest HDI scores to South Africa in 2000. Compared to them, South Africa has gone into free fall. It has gone from being in the middle of this cohort to being at the bottom, as the table below shows:
2000 2005 2006 2007
Paraguay Belize Belize Belize
Belize Jordan Jordan China
Gabon Tunisia Maldives Maldives
Maldives China Tunisia Jordan
Srilanka Maldives China Tunisia
Philipines Paraguay Paraguay Paraguay
China Srilanka Srilanka Srilanka
Syria Gabon Gabon Gabon
Algeria Algeria Algeria Algeria
El Salvador Philipines Philipines Philipines
Bolivia El Salvador El Salvador El Salvador
Jordan Syria Syria Syria
Honduras Honduras Honduras Honduras
Vietnam Bolivia Bolivia Bolivia
South Africa Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam
Uzbekistan Equatorail Guinea Maldova Maldova
Krgystan Maldova Equitorial Guinea Equitorial Guinea
Moldova Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Uzbekistan
Tunisia Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan
Cape verde Egypt Cape Verde Cape Verde
Nicaragua Cape Verde Egypt Guatemala
Egypt Nicaragua Nicaragua Egypt
Guatemala Gautemala Guatemala Nicaragua
Vanautu Vanautu Vanautu Vanautu
Namibia South Africa Tajikistan Tajikistan
Equatorial Guinea Tajikistan South Africa Namibia
Tajikistan Namibia Nambia South Africa

The ANC government routinely dismisses international indicators as inaccurate or invalid; but since the methodology used in compiling these indicators is consistently applied to all countries surveyed, South Africa's relative decline against its economic peers confirms that the ANC government is failing to properly manage the South African state.

When we look at education in particular, which is central to the HDI, it becomes clear that the ANC's policy failures are mutually reinforcing. If children don't receive a proper education, they don't acquire the skills to uplift themselves - and their children - out of poverty. Our ability to turn the tide and reverse the broad decline that has griped the country depends on our ability to deliver proper education to our children, because it is they, and not the ANC, who will ultimately lift South Africa to greater heights.