As we unpack the meaning of “radical economic transformation”, let us heed the
lessons of the past.

There came a time in our liberation struggle when a new crop of activists
demanded radical action to accelerate political freedom. They intensified an
armed struggle and imported people’s war, making our country ungovernable and
human life expendable.

Inkatha rejected this strategy. We understood the lesson of Africa: that the way
in which a people bring about their liberation determines the way in which they
will be governed after liberation.

The same applies to the struggle for economic freedom. If we compromise the
principles of our Constitution now, tomorrow’s South Africa will be steeped in
corruption, dependency and crisis.

The call for “radical action” has come because we allowed ourselves to be
diverted from the slow, steady path of economic growth early in our democracy.
What happened to GEAR? Or Asgisa? What happened to a clear, unambiguous economic
policy?

Courageous leadership is needed to pull our nation out of poverty. But courage
without wisdom is folly.

For forty years the IFP has been guided by the wisdom of the Hon. Prince
Buthelezi. Long before political freedom, Prince Buthelezi warned of the battle
ahead for economic freedom.

In 1986, he said, “Nowhere in Africa has political victory given rise to Utopia
overnight. Indeed, in a great many places, poverty, destitution, want and
ignorance have been as bad after victory as they were before victory. But it is
poverty with hope, because after victory self-help, hard work, schooling,
training and experience have combined to lift people up.”

Is there now a quick-fix that can replace self-help, hard work, schooling,
training and experience? For we have failed to walk the necessary path. We have
failed to stimulate self-help, preferring to create dependency. We have failed
to value hard work, preferring entitlement. We have failed to elevate education
and training, preferring to experiment with curriculums and lower standards. And
we have failed to enable our people to gain experience, for they remain in the
shackles of unemployment.

Is there a quick-fix to replace these steps we have failed to take?

Perhaps we should rather ask what the cost will be to “radical economic
transformation”. For there will be a cost. Will it be paid by a section of
society, or by the whole of the next generation?

To quote Prince Buthelezi, “Freedom is indivisible; it is something ALL share,
or none.”