It has become the norm for South Africans to express their dissatisfaction with the performance of either the public or private sectors through mass action. People participate in marches hoping to see an improvement in their material conditions.

Over the past decade we have seen a rapid increase in the number of service delivery protests in which members of the South African Police Service used brute force to suppress legitimate service delivery concerns. The common denominator with most marches in our Country has been the increase in police brutality, public violence, general lawlessness and the destruction of public property.

On numerous occasions marches appeared unsuccessful in yielding positive results for the participants. The material conditions of the majority of our people have remained unchanged. Millions of our people still live in abject poverty. Since 2009, the unemployment rate has risen by 2 percentage points.

The differences of opinion within the ruling party and its alliance partners about the relevance and importance of the ANC Youth League’s planned Economic Freedom Youth Mass Action reveal deep-seated divisions between these parties about what macroeconomic policies the country should pursue and how national resources should be managed.

Today, many South Africans continue to be suspicious and mistrustful of Government’s actions owing to perceptions that it is not distributing the resources of the Country equitably. Criticism has been labelled against the Government for developing economic policies which favour the new privileged political elite. Our country’s scarce resources are spent on elite projects whose sustainability is questionable.

Since 1994, there has been no consensus among South Africans about the macroeconomic policy which can transform the economy in a manner which could create and spread wealth wider and improve the wellbeing of the disadvantaged communities. The harsh reality is the Country suffers from the following:

(i) A chronic official unemployment rate of 25.7%, which stands at 45% when using the expanded definition.

(ii) The economy is unable to create jobs.

(iii) Millions of jobs have been destroyed.

(iv) Economic growth is too low to absorb new entrants into the labour market.

The prospects of reversing this dismal trend appear farfetched under the prevailing macroeconomic economic policy. The gains of political liberation have not translated into real economic freedom for all.

The attainment of real freedom can only be realised through massive socio-economic delivery. The UDM’s point of view is such a socio-economic delivery can only come to fruition when the government is willing to invest in its own economy and people. Put simply, we are saying the “Government Must Do More.”

Industrialised countries, including emerging economies like China, India and Brazil never shirk government responsibility towards their citizens. They are always willing to make timely interventions in their economies, as and when the need arises, to protect their domestic economies. A government which proposes anything less does not care about the welfare and prosperity of its people. Even the former apartheid government intervened in the economy, albeit under separate developments.

The clarion calls coming from various institutions since 1994 to transform the economy necessitate a review of the Country’s macroeconomic policies. The reality is poverty and unemployment undermine people’s freedom, especially in a Country as mineral wealthy as ours.

It is hurting to see public discourse being dominated by scandals such as the Arms Deal, Oilgate Scandal, Eskom/Hitachi/Chancellor House deal, countless tender corruption scandals, and the sheer opulence of some of the Members of your Executive. Surely Mr President, this goes against what many South Africans fought for during the struggle for liberation.

The ruling party has touted various economic policies (first it was RDP, then GEAR, then ASGISA and now the New Growth Path (NGP)), which is being piloted by Minister Patel. However, none of these have translated into tangible benefits for the majority of the citizens. Consultants who are hired to formulate these policies appear to be the sole beneficiaries.

The economic reforms we have seen since 1994 have only benefited big corporations which siphoned money out of the economy to list in foreign stock exchanges, without any prospect of the funds ever returning back to the South African economy.

It is time for representatives of all the stakeholders to converge under one roof and establish if the time has not come to conclude the other part of CODESA which never received much attention; that is, economic freedom.

A casual observation of the massive looting of State resources shows people are under the impression that they are free to deal with Country’s resources in a cavalier way. In order to avoid a move towards a second revolution, we ought to go back and finish what we started in the CODESA negotiations.

Now is the time to discuss how best to achieve economic freedom for all South Africans. After all, the Constitution guarantees our freedom, but this can only be achieved if socio-economic policies allow the Bill of Rights to become a reality for all.

Yours sincerely,

Bantu Holomisa, MP