Private profit won't help

19 June 2015 - 02:05 By Thabo Thwala, Bothaville

The youth are a frustrated lot, with deep unemployment, poverty and inequality biting hard. Sometimes, engaging in desperate protest seems the only option. On the other hand, ideas which aggressively promote privatisation must be rejected outright because they do not put people at the centre of economic development.Sometimes, the pro-privatisation lobby acts in a subtle way by tactically encouraging the youth to go on the rampage against the democratic government and demand "delivery" from it, to force the government to yield to privatisation.A clear programme of economic transformation and development needs to take root. We need to transform our economy from that of simply exporting mineral resources to that which seeks to build the more productive sectors of our economy - industry and manufacturing.This transformation must also include building a vibrant SME sector.If we can process our own raw materials, as opposed to exporting them, the challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality will be done away with.Opportunists and demagogues who think South Africa's problems can be solved by recklessly nationalising all major industries without any careful plan to deal with the obvious consequences must wake up.However, driving a second radical phase of transformation needs bravery and commitment, because the capitalists will never support any radical path. ..

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