The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

Dr. Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank, has taken a decision to
make Africa his first official visit outside of the United States since being
appointed to his position in July 2012. Whilst we welcome that the World
Bank would recognize the “*priority given by the continent’s governments
to faster economic growth and less poverty"*, it
is our hope that Dr. Jim Yong Kim arrives in South Africa for a mutually
beneficial engagement to reduce poverty as per the World Bank’s intent.
 This must not on the World Bank’s terms but on Africa’s terms.The World
Bank’s historical imposition of micro-economic policy and structural
adjustments on Africa should be rejected as the only option for Africa's
development and renewal. Interaction with Africa and the World Bank must
at all times be guided by the principles of African ownership and
leadership in all proposed interventions as encapsulated
in the New Partnership for Africa's Development.

The starting point for a World Bank programme in South Africa should
also be an appreciation that South Africa is a developing country
grappling with critical challenges of poverty, inequality and
unemployment; and that without adequate redress and redistribution these
structural challenges will remain. It is the World Bank’s own report
on Inequality of Opportunities in South Africa that recognizes that
“*circumstances at birth are important drivers of inequality in South Africa*”. As such,
any engagements that the World Bank would undertake with South Africa, in
line with its stated mission of reducing poverty, must move from this
accepted paradigm.

The South African economy remains in the hands of a small white minority
and no amount of grants, loans or guarantees will change that fact. The
critical debate must be how the World Bank, a glaring expression of global
capitalism and imperialism, will assist South Africa ensure that western
imperialists return to Africa her mineral wealth for real economic
prosperity. There must be talk too on how to ensure that immediately there
is greater beneficiation, within Africa's borders, of all minerals to
reduce unemployment and poverty. We trust that when the discussion on the
reduction of poverty within Africa arise, the World Bank will also speak
to how foreign powers must support the continent by returning the land
they own in South Africa and providing the necessary space for local ownership
of land by the indigenous people.

It is our hope therefore that the planned discussions with government
and business, with the notable exclusion of civil society, will talk
to areas of mutual benefit and any discussions devoid of these
pressing realities will once again be superficial and not speaking to
the fundamental and structural causes of poverty in Africa as a whole.