Noam Chomsky, an eminent scholar and activist, in his celebrated Profit over People reflects that: “The first great experiment was a bad idea for the subjects, but not for the designers and local elites associated with them. This pattern continues until present: placing profit over people. The consistency of the record is no less impressive than the rhetoric hailing the latest showcase for democracy and capitalism as an economic miracle — and what the rhetoric regularly conceals.” The “first major experiment” referred to is the “Permanent Settlement” instituted by the British rulers in India about 200 years ago.
The “bad idea” that Chomsky talks about — drawing from Paul Krugman — is in essence capitalism. This is the system that we are all condemned to, the world over. It is clearly an unfortunate system but continues to prevail against all odds. South Africa, like the rest of the world, has to contend with it. Although this system takes a knock from time-to-time it just keeps going — contrary to the prophesies of Karl Marx and others. It appears that most of the pressing challenges that remain unresolved here and abroad seem to relate to the capitalist system. This system seems to exacerbate greed and other social ills that engulf our young democracy.
To start with, one of the pressing challenges that remain unresolved in South Africa is the challenge of inequality, simply defined as a gap between the rich and poor. Some argue it has only been 15 years since democracy and we should, therefore, not worry too much about such a challenge. Economists, or rather most us, normally look at the crude measure of inequality termed “gini-coefficient”: if the coefficient is zero, it means society is perfectly equal and when it’s 1, society is perfectly unequal. In South Africa, the gini-coefficient — depending on the data used to compute it — is about 0.70 implying an almost perfectly unequal society. In a nutshell, the trend of our gini-coefficient suggests that economic inequality is either increasing or remaining disturbingly high. The trouble with our gini-coefficient is that it is associated with race. Indications are that whites remain far better-off than blacks, 15 years later.
The other trouble, perhaps of equal significance, is that our gini-coefficient is associated with economic and social exclusion. With the rate of unemployment South Africa has, as well as its racial composition, indications are that unemployment is largely a problem of black people in South Africa — these are the people that are excluded from the mainstream of the economy.
Besides the economic inequality that most of us focus on, Francis Fukuyama in his most daring and incisive book, The End of History and the Last Man, reminds us of various social inequalities. He argues that “social inequality falls into two categories, the sort that is traceable to human convention and that attributable to nature or natural necessity … There are also forms of inequality directly traceable to the workings of the capitalist market … ” In short, Fukuyama — in the pursuit of his thesis on liberal democracy — alerts us of various forms of inequalities we sometimes don’t pay enough attention to. For instance he gives the example that “obstacles confronting a young black … only begin with substandard education”.
The twin challenge of inequality, in its various forms, is poverty. I will not dwell on this issue as it is rather straightforward and I have written about it many-a-times. Although data suggests that poverty may have been declining, it remains disturbingly high. Indications are that, due to the global economic recession, more South Africans are going to join many other South Africans classified as poor as more people lose their jobs.
The third associated challenge that remains unresolved in South Africa is the one of racism and/or the challenge of “white supremacism”. I have attempted to address this challenge before. It is of course a tricky issue because it often relies on anecdotes rather than scientific evidence. It would, however, seem that racial intolerance is on the rise.
Maybe it is just prejudice as I have speculated before. Linked to the challenge of racism is the associated, but different, problem of white supremacy. White supremacy can broadly be defined as the conduct of a white person that suggests a white person is superior to a black person. This challenge permeates our lives in South Africa: at work, at lectures and in classrooms, on the road and so on. Raising this issue does not mean being anti-white, which could perhaps be tantamount to “black supremacy”. The point is raised as an observation requiring attention. Perhaps we need to learn more about each other.
Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, one of the greatest sons of our soil — may his soul rest in peace — raised the issue of white supremacy sharply in his first speech at Fort Hare in 1949 as president of the Students’ Representative Council. Among the key points he raised was that “our whole life in South Africa is politics…”. In his self-defence, he stated that “we are anti-nobody”. As was then, it still is: our whole life in South Africa remains politics and the challenge of white supremacy remains widespread. Talking about this does not mean that one is anti-anybody.
There are of course other unresolved pressing issues our society is confronted with. This polemic focused on those that are not receiving much-needed urgent attention, with the exception of poverty (but it is hard to talk about challenges facing South Africa and not mention poverty). In addition, the aim of this article was to highlight related challenges: inequality (and poverty) seems to be associated with race.
In conclusion, Hannah Arendt, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, explained that the concept of societas generis humani, “society of mankind” means that “no human life is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings”. In essence, the unresolved pressing challenges named above and others require an effort from each and every one of us. A number of challenges facing South Africa require targeted public policy interventions. Some, and perhaps the most complex ones, such as racism and white supremacism need each and every one of us to do something. We are all in this together. We have repeatedly proven that we can overcome challenges that may seem insurmountable. We need to reach out for/to each other; we need to try at least to meet one another halfway. We have already pledged a “new social compact”: we just need to make it stick.
As for poverty, inequality and other such material matters society as a whole, including the private sector, needs to find ways not to put “profit over people”. Similarly we all need to address social inequalities that Fukuyama talks about. The inequalities (economic, social and otherwise) associated with race and compounded by poverty are probably the most critical unresolved challenges facing us a nation. Such challenges are likely to be severe in the immediate future as our economy sheds more jobs and the global economic recession bites us.
Stimulating article, Dr. Gumede.
When I look around at SA-can society what I see is the huge disparity (social as well as economic) between the educated and the uneducated. This applies as much to the black ‘elites’ as the ANCYL leader is fond of calling the educated–and employed–members of the ANC, many of whom were exiles who were educated overseas.
The resentment, ineffectually disguised as contempt, expressed by Julius Malema, Floyd Shivambu, etc. reveals a deep-seated hostility to reason. They go so far as to equate education with ‘whiteness’ (‘coconuts’, ‘oreos’. etc.).
The university systems that span the world today are indeed ‘Western’ in many ways. The emphasis on reason over emotion, empiricism over personal bias, evidence over anecdote are hallmarks of the shift from ‘subjective received wisdom’ (cultural, religious, unexamined) to qualified, more tentative theorising and rigourous requirements for proof before you can voice (credibly) an assertion.
That shift was not only intellectual. An educated person whose family is not educated can often be isolated by his/her ability to relate to the world in an ‘impersonal’ manner. As you observed above, in SA life is ‘political’–but it is not dispassionate.
Lack of education has left most of the people in the country in a permanently disadvantaged position in terms of being able to evaluate candidates and policies in a general as opposed to a PERSONAL way.
Much of the tension between the black and white communities seems to be based on this difference. tbc
Cont’d. from above
In sociological terms, ‘western’ culture is ‘low context’. The emphasis is on distinguishing oneself, setting oneself apart from the ‘mob’. There is a great deal of social ‘dislocation’ as a result of this emphasis on individual identity as opposed to identity with a group or entity.
African culture is, by contrast, ‘high context’–very personal.The ANC philosophy of everyone in the party being ‘family’ is apposite in this context. The difficulty with that model is that the family is the spawning ground of our deepest and strongest emotions– hatred and resentment as well as love and solidarity. In effect, the ANC (and similar orgs the world over) tends to make everything personal. Hence, the personality cult and the vitriolic attacks on ‘traitors’ which translates to anyone who disagrees with or leaves the party. (Cit. Barbara Hogan/Dalai Lama issue; the attacks on COPE members (snakes, baboons, traitors; the threats against Ms. Zille).
Most of the violence in the world occurs in families which often operate like dictatorships ruled by the most dominant member. In this atmosphere, atavistic emotions are provoked by perceived patterns of ‘favouritism’, inequality, marginalisation.
If we persist in maintaining the fiction that a political party–which by its very nature is an impersonal structure–is really one huge family, we will continue to conduct our public life in terms of family/personal loyalties (cronyism, nepotism), perceived ‘betrayals’ (differences of opinion, opposition), where nternecine warfare sabotages all efforts directed at reducing inequality and poverty.
This is a good article, the lessons that can be drawn from the Zimbabwe debacle is that if a nation does not adress the inequaliaties in its society there will be a braeking point and a disaster will happen. We dare not ignore the land issue in SA. The new dispensation has served to promote white privillege and legitimise the ill begotten gains from anu angle that you look from. I know that the denialists will not agree. If your father became a millioner at the back of my father and now you can venture into any business due to that privillege to accuse me of laziness or otherwise is ignorance and stupidity.
The rality is that we did not join the struggle for freedom just to be poorer at the end.
“Just because some of us can read and write and do little math, that doesn’t mean that we deserve to conquer the Universe.” Kurt Vonnegut
Capitalism does tend to encourage individualism in as much as it embraces novelty, and successful competition is based on uniqueness. Collectivist philosophies by contrast discourage or punish individuality, originality and innovation, tending to see such qualities as undermining the authority of the collective.
The Collective model also places other values ‘above’ people. “The ANC is larger than any individual” is a good example. The ‘Party’ is construed as a group identity that acts in a monolithic way. The trouble with monoliths is that they are rigid structures, impervious to changing circumstances. Collective ideology–even ‘socialism’– takes precedence over people (Pol Pot, Mao, Stalin). All three of these ‘leaders’ attempted to eradicate–or to ‘re-educate’–the literate people in their societies. (Never mind that Mao was bourgeois and educated in Europe himself!)
Humans are conscious creatures (more or less…) and as such we are naturally curious. That natural drive toward learning has been disastrously neglected for the past 15 years. Some of the worst scandals in SA occurred ih the Ministries of Education in the provinces. Failing to order textbooks and then telling teachers to ‘get creative’ (!); people collecting pay checks but not teaching; teachers having sex with students, demonstrates this neglect.
Equality is not about attitude; it is about having the means to earn a living and that is dependent first and foremost on education, including vocational education and apprenticeships, not just ‘academic’ education.
Education is not the answer to all ills, it is just the first step.
White Supremacists must be the most deluded people in the country, and Vusi, you are right… whites and blacks need to get to know each other.
As for profits before people – profits are not something that is kept under lock and key. The capitalist system requires profits to be reinvested in assets that will create growth and jobs. If you do not reinvest profits in the capitalist system you will loose it in the long run.
I don’t think you realise how very little power whites have in the country. Whites as a group have almost no influence on policy and decision making in the country. Most of the spending in country is also done by black decision makers. It is not in the power of whites in this country to uplift black communities.
Vusi, nice article. You raise an interesting point around white supremacism, and even of the possibility of black supremacism as well. Perhaps, what we need to be doing is talking supremacism in general, and the idea of believing oneself to better than another.
Most Swedes I have met, as an example, have it engrained in their heads that they are no better than anyone else. This idea is enforced in their education which promotes a greate degree of teamwork, less importance is placed on marks (if marks are even given at all), and the individualistic competitiveness that seems to be bred into our youth at school in this country is non-existent.
Whilst I think this may stifle achievement and promote mediocrity to some degree, we could certainly learn a lot from those countries that promote tolerance of our neighbours/fellow humans more so than we do at this point in time. If I’m the top of my class and celebrated for this fact from a very young age, that achievement, without the maturity to see it for what it is, enforces a supremacist view of the world, that I am better than those around me.
Al Gore oftens quotes: ‘An old african proverb which says “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”.’ I have to agree with this, but why then do we still place such emphasis on singular achievements in this country, be it in school or beyond?
Get ready Vusi, all the intellectually dishonest commentators are going to misread (perhaps deliberately?) what you have written and turn around and call you a racist…
Good article, though.
“Capitalism” has generted billions to the Govt coffers in SA, if those billions were spent on the poor (education/housing/infracture/etc etc) and unemployed (and not on arms + plus buddies + lying un-spent in Trevor’s vaults) there would have been massive upliftment throughout SA.
So have a go at the “Socialist” unproductive sector and not the “Free market” productive sector.
Brent
Dear Vusi. The biggest challenge is whether government can develop a “good” response to structural poverty. The smaller challenge is recognising that asset inequality is what matters, and possibly explain what you call ‘social inequality’. Thanks for a good read.
Whilst the issues of overt and covert racism were not effectively addressed during the tenure of President Thabo Mbeki, the opening argument in Gumede’s article, that Chomsky’s ‘bad idea’, i.e capitalism, is the cause of the dramatic inequality in South Africa is most germane.
White elites, since the mid-1600s, and black elites, more recently, have ensured self-aggrandizement through control of capital to the exclusion of the, overwhelmingly, black impoverished.
Capitalism and racism are the twin scourges of fairness, justness and a sense of equality as humans beings before the law, in the workplace, and in every nook and cranny of South African society.
They are certainly not mutually exclusive, in the local context at least, yet the two issues need to be addressed separately. Unbridled global capitalism has shown that its natural offspring are greed and selfishness,and inhumane and psychopathic behaviour.
Racism is an ingrained, self-reinforcing scheme of irrational predjudice that can be adressed by comprehensive public role-modelling. Many intellectuals and skeptics now ridicule the ‘Madiba-effect’ and Desmond Tutu’s ‘Rainbow Nation’ concept, yet these vital interventions increased compassion, understanding and tolerance between the various historic ‘races’ in South Africa to a remarkable degree.
Let us hope that the new government will take cogniscence of these issues, as they appear to be doing, and be honest brokers in helping to transform our society into the equitable and tolerant society that it has the potential to become.
“Equality is not ONLY about attitude” it should have read.
Inequality has both economic and psychological dimensions. I was referring to the psychological side in the context of the ‘attitude’s of white supremacists. Until we ‘equalilse’ the opportunity to acquire an education–not just meaningless bits of paper!–we will not be able to address either side of ‘inequality’, psychological or economic. The concept of equality under the law must be used to extend the benefits of acquired skills to all who want them.
Otherwise, ‘equality under the law’ will apply only to a narrow set of circumstances, defending oneself in court…Not what Mandela, Sisulu, Tambo, et al had in mind!
Strangely I see no parallels between capitalism the social inequalities it generates, and race. The current crop of black leaders in SA are enriching themselves while the majority remain poor. The whites did the same in power. In white dominated societies like the UK, US and EU its the same story, currently a huge media backlash against the banking sector profiting while the taxpayer suffers, not to mention the British Mp expenses debacle. I dont think we are any different from the rest of the world, unfortunately as you say, capitalism promotes greed, as the current world order unfortunately illustrates. Only some countries with a hybrid capitalist socialist system like most of Europe, New Zealand,etc seem to get the balance right between job and wealth generation and addressing social and financial inequalities. People in power are generally despicable, greedy narcissists, whatever race they may be be. We need to stop focusing on race and start focusing on accountability and service delivery, no matter what colour the leader.
What a funny thought and from a Dr nogal. Must have been adviser to that great African supremacist and elitist Thabo M. As for white supremacists on the road? Do you drive? Taxi drivers OWN the road boet.
Have you ever considered actually doing something positive and leading by example rather even admitting you have relied on anecdote.
Whites have very little of any sort of power in South Africa and its no bad thing. Race based power is not a good thing.
Socialism is the only way out of this mess.
finish ‘n klaar
A very thought provoking article on which I congratulate you, Sir! May I just leave everybody with a thought of my own. What we bandy around as ‘racism’ is nothing more than ‘culturalism’ It exists among the back, white and asian races – amongst all human beings, in fact. After 1994 and even before, I have come to realise how little I know of the other races. Their culture is so very different from my own. This makes me feel more at home with people of my own “tribe”. It is not a question of colour! Although it is the first thing one notices on meeting another, it is his/her general appearance which places the person in a certain clasification.
The more you get to know that person, the fainter the dividing lines become. Where race is not prejudiced by law, as during Apartheid, it becomes easier for people of a like mind to ‘find’ one another, and their physical appearance becomes of no consequence.
We are what we eat, say, wear, do, etc. It classifies us; not our colour, or other attributes.
Vusi
You have to differentiate between capitalism and free market. If anything this meltdown is partly caused by a failed socialist experiment – lending mortgages to poor Americans for houses they could not afford is socialism not capitalism.
But there are lots of factors involved.
China’s growth is one – also meaning China had lots of money to invest and pushed up shares etc in value.
But almost zero interest rates were in fact, in my opinion, the main factor, starting in Japan. The banks, not making money out of interest, made money out of inventive speculations. The Japanese, from being one of the most saving nations in the world, moved to borrowers of more than 100% of household debt, because inflation without interest on savings meant a whole generation of good savers could not afford to retire.
Paper money is another problem – the eventual total abandoning of the gold standard, and even monetarisation, meant that governments could just print paper (which Mugabe took to the worst extreme).
And inequatities in gini are worse in India and Brazil than SA.
Think what worked for thousands of years – money was silver or gold, or backed by gold, and REAL. Savers earned interest and borrowers paid it (with banks taking a percentage).
As I said worked for THOUSANDS of years.
As for protection of labour – there you need to jack up the totally useless World Labour Trade Union Federation.
Unfortunately we are global now and you can’t turn back Mbeki’s clock.
Vusi
Sorry if I did not explain very well. The Japanese stopped saving money in the bank (which was loosing value with inflation and not earning interest) and started borrowing more than their income (to buy shares to beat inflation).
Alright, so capitalism is bad, but we have also seen the evil of so-called socialism in the Soviet Empire. Those who have personally experienced it can afford to be glib about it. There was a time, when socialism was the ideal for oppressed and ecnomically deprived people. It was a bit disappointment when it also failed, because it engendered the exact same privileges for a new class, the Communist Party members. Now that there is no more ideal,people tend to express their frustrations and anger in violence. In fact, even previously oppressed but recently enriched blacks seem to have adopted the worst capitalist traits.
It is a pity that even Vusi cannot name a viable substitute for capitalism, despite all of its evils. There is no antidote for teh evils of human nature.
Martin Wolf of the Financial Times wrote on March 8:
It is impossible at such a turning point to know where we are going… Yet the combination of financial collapse with a huge recession, if not something worse, will surely change the world. The legitimacy of the market will weaken. The credibility of the US will be damaged. The authority of China will rise. Globalization itself may founder. This is a time of upheaval.
So it is the return of history….. Fukuyama was just wishful thinking!
What makes you say capitalism is an “unfortunate” system?
Chomsky, a doctrinaire socialist, is a brilliantly gifted linguist but a woeful pseudo-economist and political macro-theorist. He’s a good self-publicist though, trading on his unquestioned prestige as an academic linguist to rub off on his dogmatic and unscientific ideological leanings.
I put it to you that liberal capitalism is, in fact, a very FORTUNATE and a highly-tested in battle economic credo.
Like any credo, it has made a few errors here and there, but it is self-correcting and it’s the only show in town, as Fukuyama provocatively announced over a decade ago.
Socialism/communism is utterly defeated. It imploded when the Berlin Wall fell and the USSR burst asunder.
Chomsky might still be in denial, but that’s his problem.
Very well put. I am a South African white with Northern Ireland heritage. In the late 70′s my family returned there. I was 17 with a standard 8 education from SA. My first job was cleaning windows at the Standard Telephone MNFG Company. One day soon after starting I was cleaning windows in the offices when the food trolley came around. As I was already in the passage I got to be third or so in the queue. The office workers behind me were not very impressed at all and made it clear I should satisfy my hunger and thirst from the food trolley in the factory. There were many such events over the short time I cleaned windows, in fact these events motivated me to attain greater standards in my life. I was not motivated to be like those people but rather that they do not talk down to me again.
This event came to mind with the above statement on white attitude of supremacy over blacks. Perhaps the majority of this supremist attitude is not about colour (please note I use the term “majority”), but station in life as per the above example of white on white contempt. Education levels will dictate the type and income level of job one gets, and this will in turn determine ones station in life, and perhaps the biggest problem is intolerance of the lower stations and not race. Nevertheless, like all countries, we will always have racists, both Black and White
I don’t take issue with the conclusion of Mr. Gumede’s article. However, I do take issue with two references. First, he dismisses Marx’s writings as prophecy. Marx’s writings fall into three broad categories (sociology, economics, and politics), none of which are prophecy. The bulk of Marx’s work is an attempt to diagnose contemporary European social problems and generate an economic and political order that would address them. Historians, both Marxist and otherwise, still value the sociological and political work as incredibly insightful. The economic work may be flawed, but that doesn’t make it prophecy unless we are also going to condemn every other economist who ever got things wrong (Smith, Ricardo, Schumpeter, etc.).
After dismissing Marx so boldly, I was astounded to see Francis Fukuyama offered as more insightful. Fukuyama’s writings have been shredded by scholars as political ideology rather than scholarly investigation. He deserves the moniker “prophet”, rather than Marx. Any number of well-regarded scholarly intellectuals would have worked in his place, including Max Weber.
I appreciate the stimulation of public discourse with a much-needed injection of scholarship. However, that scholarship should reflect a broader academic consensus, rather than the discredited works of Fukuyama.
Vusi
Good article, and a subject that needs much debate.
One of the major flaws in capitalism is however a socialist constuct, that of limited liability, much like the socialist idea of collective responsibility. As for greed, corporate or otherwise; if this is the problem there is no hope as the poor are just as greedy. On supremacy, white or otherwise, few of us say “but for the grace of God, there go I” when we see the poor beggar. This makes most of us supremacists. These are issues we won’t and have to learn to live with.
A significant issue however is a prevailing idea that it is a racist act only if a white person speaks harshly against a black person, however legitimately. This has produced an idea of immunity from critism amongst some in our government as their detractors are branded as racist.
A “geleered” person like yourself knows the answers, contained in a hugh body of academic literature. Have you perhaps written this off as too liberal and are looking for a revolutionary answer instead?
I still believe that this a wonderful country. We just have to learn to live together, and prioritising education, even if we have to call in the help of the “suprematists” is essential.
Chris – isn’t control over spending at least as control over capital ?
Interesting that you should quote from Fukuyama a staunch supporter of liberal democracy & free market capitalism; formerly associated with the US neo-conservative movement.
Fukuyama had the following to say about SA (Next South Africa, 1991, National Interest):
(1)He was concerned about the ANC’s Leninist thinking on politics and economics which does seem to be in touch with modern liberal open societies. He is a strong critic of national-socialism and social engineering.
(2)That SA was in fact a middle income country and that large scale redistribution away from the white population would not be sufficient to bring the majority up to first world standards and that it could in fact damage the country’s ability to generate wealth.
(3)The unequal distribution of wealth is a big problem (mentioning our exploitive past) that must be remedied, but to attempt to right these wrongs in a short period could be self-defeating and damage our ability to generate wealth.
(4)However unfair the current degree of white ownership (capital) and however injured the black population, the future economic prospects will depend to a very large extend on using this white capital and skills to continue to generate wealth.
The trick according to him seems to be to harness all the resource and expertise in a more inclusive direction without concentrating too heavily on readdress and destroying wealth making ability in the process.
Its difficult for me to understand your concept of white supremacy in South Africa when we have been led and ruled by black government for 15 years. Whites, agreed, are a privileged minority, although not all whites share in this. Black government with its vast majority has had all the political and economic power in its hands since 2004, and yet has not made a significant difference in the lives of the poor, or diminished racism, such possibilities being in their hands. Whats really at play here is the elite ‘black supremacy’ which needs to re-examine its purpose and intent.
Our society will improve when white bashing ends, and responsibilities, finally accepted by those in power, are felt by the masses, by ALL who live in South Africa.
Tisk, tisk Siobhan,
You say; “(…)The resentment, ineffectually disguised as contempt, expressed by Julius Malema, Floyd Shivambu, etc. reveals a deep-seated hostility to reason.” really?
It occurred to me while reading this bit of misinformation that the SAn racism narrative is perhaps even more sophisticated than Vusi describes above. The lineament Vusi describes is more conspicuous than the real experience often offers. Rather than frothing rightwingers we encounter ‘reasoned assessments’-like yours…
So for instance, instead of Shivambo & Malema being the wayward & disrespectful boys they are, their behaviour is more deepseated and this pathology is common among blacks. Instead of the ANC having made mistakes like any other party, the ANC culture (read African culture) is close-contact and familial lending itself to being overly emotional as oppossed, i suppose, to the DA one for instance-which is more genteel and civilised…honestly!
Again, the inconvenient truth is that your views are hardly the exception to the SAn norm.
BTW, I dont recall that Mao was ever educated in Europe. Where/when?
…These days Fukuyama is advocating for slower change in society and is against radical revolutionary change in either direction and from outside sources (against the neo-con interventionist policies).
Nevertheless, his argument is similar to the one made by R.W. Johnson in his latest book in terms of the failed colonialisation argument (2nd last chapter). Johnson refers to Fukuyama’s earlier views frequently to support his own arguments.
Nevertheless they both raise not very PC but certainly provocative, tough and relevant questions in terms of finding the right balance between social, economic and political redress (which both believe is important and necessary) and wealth generation – which pays for the redress.
Basically we have to weight the important political and symbolic imperative, indeed obligation, to redress our apartheid past on the one hand with the not very PC view (they would say reality) that a large part of our economy and potential success is still reliant on white capital and skills – whilst the gap is being closed.
It is a tough tight rope to walk for government,that requires working with “white” capital, business, skills and civil society as necesary partners in building a more equal society and not as enemies or the fundamental targets of redress.
“The trouble with our social experiments is that the most enterprising and most intelligent guinea pig are escaping and running away…”. An emigrating businessman’s response to politician Tony Ben during Britain’s Labour Party Grand Social Experiment of the late 1960’s, possibly Urban legend.
Trouble in South Africa is it isn’t just the white guinea pigs but also the Indian and coloured and the very best of our blacks who are fleeing.
Now let’s spend a moment exploring the huge amount of foreign aid we give the US, Britain, Australia and the rest of the world each year. Do we give the US foreign aid, you bet, vastly more each year that they give us!!!
Take Indian doctors, I have heard of a study that 40% of them leave South Africa within 10 years of qualifying (and who can blame them). It costs the family and the state well over R1 Million to raise a child from a poor Indian family and train him to be a doctor, those from more affluent families cost 5 to 20 times as much. We’ll use the conservative 1 million rand per emigrant figure, Each doctor, as he qualifies is worth at least R1 million (cost price). Take a conservative figure of say 100 doctors. Add to that say 200 engineers, 200 nurses and 500 other highly qualified individuals emigrate to the US each year, say a only thousand people, that’s R1 000 000 000.
See later post -
As I said earlier, we give (human) foreign aid to the United States to the tune of a billion Rand – OUCH
But these professionals will be worth thousands of times more to their new country throughout their lives than a mere million Rand. A doctor, at the height of his profession in the US will contribute several hundred thousand US Dollars in various taxes each year, say conservatively R1 000 000 in taxes a year. He will also contribute to the community (all doctors do) which is worth a substantial additional sum. That’s one of the reasons why the US became a much richer country and Britain became much poorer during this period of high emmigration.
It is good that we discuss these issues so that these enterprising and intelligent South Africans know the state of the country and the warped mindset of some of it’s less gifted intellectuals. They can then make rational decisions on their future. They can decide whether to be hobbled by this system or soar in a less controlled foreign one.
This mindset though is bad for the country and particularly the poor. We have a crisis in Health for example while our doctors are fleeing (as well as in employment, in job creation, in Policing etc, etc…)
Humans have tried it before, many times, and it didn’t work. 20 million dead Russians can attest to the failed grand social experiment (as can the starving masses in North Korea).
Lyndall,
Get a life, will you!
I mentioned oodles of times before, that India has a relatively good Gini co-effficient. Same as UK or New Zealand.
India’s Gini coefficient is VASTLY betther than South Afric’s, which is near the bottom of the heap.
>
Now I go back into blog hibernation, for a few months.
Siphiwo Siphiwo, which socialism would you choose: the USSR’s, E, Europe (Albania being the best!!!), Cambodia, China, N. Korea, Cuba, etc. Suggestion, go and live in one of the world’s socialist heavens and report back, that is if you survive.
Cuba has had socialism for +- 50years and still the refugees of Central and S. America pour into the USA giving Cuba a wide berth, including 2/3000 Cubans yearly – wonder why???
Brent
Brent
@Frank Re:BTW, I dont recall that Mao was ever educated in Europe. Where/when?
Sorry, my mistake. Mao’s central role in the organisation of the work-study group for the New People’s Study Society (1918-1921) led to his decision to go to France to study with Cai He-san. However, Mao lacked the funds and was not fluent enough in French and pulled out at the last minute. He did, however, study in the French Concesson in Shaghai where the papers written by members of the Work-Study group in France were read and studied. Mao’s articles from this period show increasing disenchantment with the Bakunin anarchists and a gradual conversion to Marxism. Mao’s later friendship with Sartre was also hovering around the edges of memory.
For the record: atavistic appeals to emotion, prejudice of any sort, and anti-rationalism in any political organisaton, are dangerous. I referred to the ‘pseudo-family’ of a political party as an inappropriate model– all over the world. This applies as much to right wing neo-cons in the US as to the fanatically fervent ANCYL acolytes of Zuma.
Democratic governance requires a basic commitment to impartial application of the rule of law. By nature, such an approach is ‘impersonal’ , i.e., ‘low context’.
What I see happening in SA is an increasing ANC/MK-driven ‘high context’ personalising of the political sphere. That makes rational debate with the ANC/YL/MK impossible and inimical to democracy.
The trouble is the crown jewels were sold off 15 years ago. 40% of Sasol is owned by the USA (so 40% of the dividends go there). China owns most of Standard Bank. Old Mutual (formerly our largest employer ) is listed overseas and both Sasol and Anglo are developing more elsewhere than in SA.
At least in the last recession, which we and the developing world were coming out of when the ANC took over, we still owned Sasol, Telkom, Armscor, Iscor – all sold with who knows how much state and parastatal land!
Hi Doc, I can clearly see that this article received the most attention in just 1day compared to the former. I think this particular piece will channel us to reflect more on ethical conduct. According to Edward Hayes et al, Ethics is the science which guides our judgement concerning the morality of human acts.Being political beings,it is of no doubt that everyday in our life,we are encountered with situations in which we make our decisions to the expense of other people.The key terms and tools of ethical language which are values,rights,duties and relationship has a major role to play inorder to guide that we overcome these challenges facing us.Situations also occur that advises us to consider the adequate application and utilisation of common morality and morality of care.
One of my artcles dated March 7, 2008 on Capetimes News analysed my fear and worries after the racial incident at the Univeristy of Free State sparked an outrage.We urged government,NGO’s and policy makers to uphold and encourage more events and occasions that bring races together.This inevitably is one of the most catastrophic challenges facing us both politically and economically and I strongly believe that if all put in the desired efort, then this defect and others facing us might be mini-efficently solved.
Vusi, even though you covered a lot of ground, its otherwise a good read.
@john Bond
I agree with much of your analysis on the hidden costs of losing educated SAns of ALL races. This silent emigration is hugely detrimental to our long term global competitiveness and economic stability. The world economic slowdown however, has served to slow this down temporarily.
From what I’ve learned from conversations, observations etc., points to crime being the primary reason for emigration these days, and not AA or potential political or economic instability. The basic human desire for safety cannot be ignored. Safety is primarily the responsibility of the government and cannot be “outsourced” to private industry like ADT, Chubb etc.
Since crime was left to slowly spiral out of control over the last decade under Mbeki, I believe only a drastic change in thinking by JZ and other government leaders will make a difference to restoring basic safety within our society. With our looming recession it even more urgent to create a safe environment conducive to local small businesses so that jobs can be created once again.
Siobhan,
In principle, i dont have a problem with a sociological/cultural account of the differences between groups-my point was that i would rather such an account did not rely on Malema and Shivambo as a standard. They certainly dont represent the ‘best’ of us. The same is true of the ANC; its not the sum of the SAn black experience-i speak to you as a supporter of said organisation.
To substance…Vusi, with respect,
a debate about capitalism’s (structural) in/efficiencies is one thing, a debate about power relations between entrenched capitalist states versus ‘new’ capitalist states is another, a philosophical debate about the ‘human condition’ with respect to equity is yet another…
As an aside, i was struck by your reference to Arendt. As you know, Arendt famously explored the concept of anti-semitism as a ‘convenient proxy’ vis. the rise of autocracy in Germany. Couldn’t one equally transplant white supremacy/racism as a ‘convenient proxy’ to Apartheid’s primary mission of affirmative action? Wouldn’t this recharacterise our undestanding of restorative justice in respect of economic redress?
Vusi: After 15 years and a 66% victory at the polls race is an excuse, no longer a reason.
Capitalism has indeed behaved disgracefully, but what more do you need to tackle it? The truth is it is EASIER to flash the race card, the previously-disdavantaged card, the “legacy” card than knuckle down to the hard work of:
- Saying NO to those who enriched themselves to staggering effect
- Saying NO to those with the capital who have simply taken a few ANC fatcats on board and are now untouchable
- Implementing regulation (real, effective regulation) over monopoly and near-monopoly industries
- Flying in the face of those international and US and British and German interests who threaten you with (PERSONAL) poverty if you don’t tow the neo-(conservative or liberal) capitalist line
- Resisting those same people’s offers of enrichment in deals and tenders.
Truth is Vusi, doing the actual job needed is HARD. Not doing it and blaming it on something else is EASY – and that’s what the voting fodder is getting instead.
The top 1000 families are being set up cosily in all positions of power, wherafter:
Nothing will happen (‘cept speeches). “Don’t rock the boat” will rule.
Hope I’m wrong, Vusi. Stick it to me!
Wow…what a brilliant piece of intellectual work. I couldn’t agree with you more we are condemned to this capitalist idea of the West. A couple of days ago the Treasury went on national TV to admit that South Africa is officially in a recession.But how many South Africans out there understand the magnitude of the crisis we face. The point am trying to make is that the majority of South Africans do not see what difference would it make in their lives if even before the “R-word” was mentioned they were still struggling to make ends meet. Yes maybe the educated and those employed in the mining, clothing, banking and auto industry would most probarbly know what is meant by recession. But the majority of people out there in the rural areas do not care or have any reason why they should “panic”. But then i would like to ask you Dr Vusi a question, what would you propose to be a better alternative to capitalism or what other ways could policy makers, investors etc. adopt to avoid history repeating itself? Because this is not the first time that countries like South Africa are in a recession but it seems as if the private sector and governments do not learn from past experiences but prefer to deal with the after-effects. Regards, T
The issues you are raising are at the heart of South Africa’s socio-economic ills. I am mainly concerned about the growing income inequality in South Africa. The growing “economic elite class” as a result of the BBBEE programmes is even more disconcerting as it seems the stepping stone to “being rich” or “getting rich” is access to State power and resources as the former President Thabo Mbeki once noted. This, I am afriad, will spark public furore and social unrest ceteris paribus.
The service delivery protests that are beginning to characterise our young democracy bear testimony to the looming threat of social unrest. This is the fear, Mark Givisser, reports former President Mbeki, to be have haboured at some stage. If the current “new administration” is NOT fully alive to these challenges, existing poverty levels, increasing job losses due the global economic crisis, service delivery bottlenecks and the growing elite will conspire to drive the poor masses “insane”. I however think free education up to the university (B-degree) for the historical disadvantaged groups could be one of the ways of mitigating the hardships faced be this group. I delighted that the proposal is now being mooted by the new ministry for higher education. I firmly believe that access to education is one of the fundamental solutions we need enable the marginalised (black masses not elite) people break the “poverty trap”.
I read this searching blog last month, gave it a lot of thought and came back to read all the equally thought provoking comments to it.
In my field of endeavour, we try to achieve a multi-perspectival approach. I therefore wonder if it is useful to try and make a case for one perspective or other, as some responses do (no disrespect intended – it is valid, but partial).
Whether race was a proxy or not is surely a moot point? The fact is race, economic deprivation, psychological pain,internalised superiority & inferiority; multiple forms of social, legal, political, (you name it) advantage and disadvantage interacted to produce the results we see today AND they were mutually constitutive.
To render one aspect to the position of proxy, is to deny the equal validity of a standpoint many still take. Making things analytically distinct is useful, but should not in the process (unconsciously?)dismiss the interlocked and total nature of the experience of oppression induced by a belief of total supremacy.
All it shows us is that a piecemeal or denialist approach to the continuities of our country’s problems is going to avenge itself on all of us.
We don’t only need the most educated to solve these problems – each of us have a role to play in finding complex solutions to our complex problem.
Sarah H,
Worthy submission and valid points (no condescension intended). Re racism as a proxy and futility of lineal analysis-i hear you.
On racism as a proxy, my contribution was not intended to diminish or downplay the effects of racism-instead it sought to challenge the leitmotif that casts affirmative action/BEE & other restorative policies as racist. i.e Understanding Apartheid in this light might encourage a meeting of minds on positive discrimination. Notwithstanding debates on application…useful?
@Frank Nnete – I hear you with regard to restorative justice (RJ) – absolutely. I just think it is sad that it even needs to be defended and explained so many times and in so many ways while other equally important aspects cry out for attention. Sadly, the agenda of previous beneficiaries seem to dictate the debate in a rather ahistorical way. This is not to say that feelings of exclusion are invalid.
I just fear that attempts to address past injustices (if it is not tempered with a commitment to building peace – will simply doom us to a future of perpetual strife and accusations of racism). Therefore my suggestion that things need to be framed in a more complex way.
Perhaps the answer may lie in laying bare the links between our past and present; and the role that RJ plays/can play in peace/nationbuilding as a process, with social justice as a goal? [Yes, I think about this a lot!!)
I apologise, I meant to say ‘some … beneficiaries…’.