South African Political Economy Temperature Rising

SOUTH AFRICA - In Brief 01 Aug 2018 by Iraj Abedian

---

Structural and cyclical factors have combined to make the SA political economy scene in the country dynamic, robust and often times confusing. President Ramaphosa, meanwhile, keeps committed to his vision of reviving ethical leadership, reigniting the country’s self-image of ‘unity in diversity’, and putting a stop to the corrupt practices imbedded in the public sector by his predecessor.As he has learned over the past six months of being in the office, such goals are easier to speak about rather than to achieve. Not unexpectedly, his biggest obstacles arise from within his own political party- the African National Congress (ANC). SA’s structural challenges in the form of the historic endemic poverty, unemployability (due to a century of poor public education system), poor public health infrastructure, and in general an inefficient public administration (at all spheres of national, provincial and local governments) have culminated in a pervasive societal discontent. This is further compounded by the age-old land disposition of the majority of the population, growing urbanisation and the failure of the government’s housing policies over the period since 1994. The large-scale looting of the public funds over the past decade has complicated the situation by eliminating many public policies that could have otherwise been funded by the fiscus. Yet, the many state-owned enterprises (SOEs) themselves face financial viability and going-concern challenges, never mind being part of the short to medium term solutions. In the period preceding the next year’s national elections (expected in May 2019), the political pressure points are increasing by the day. President Ramaphosa find...