Radical socio-economic transformation policy should not be mocked, downplayed says KZN MEC

MEC Duma said the current state of the country’s economy, along with the low level of economic participation for the majority of the population, did not create conditions for a stable society.

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs Siboniso Duma. Picture: Doctor Ngcobo/ African News Agency (ANA)

Published Aug 18, 2022

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Durban - KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Siboniso Duma has warned the business community that it cannot afford to mock the calls for radical socio-economic transformation.

Duma was speaking to members of the business community during a business breakfast meeting in Durban on Thursday morning.

He said the current state of the country’s economy, along with the low level of economic participation for the majority of the population, did not create conditions for a stable society.

He said in the country, the richest 1% of the population owns 42% of the wealth and the bottom 10% live in extreme poverty.

In addition, six million South Africans that want to work are not able to find work, while 70% of those unemployed are below the age of 35-years-old.

“This is not a basis for a stable society, a united and prosperous society.

“The state of affairs is clearly intolerable and unsustainable,” said Duma.

Duma said the ANC had put forward viable economic policy that has the potential to improve the economic conditions of many.

“The majority of ANC members are demanding radical socio-economic transformation, this has since 2011 become an ANC policy.

“I think we have already spoken about being candid, we must look into your eyes and indicate that for the province of KwaZulu-Natal and for South Africa at large, those who own the means of production must understand that they must create new spaces for other to participate.

“We can't have a country that has the majority who are at the periphery, you will have problematic matters. You can't have a country that has high unemployment and businesses think that things will be normal, we can't have a country with so much inequality and think that things will thrive,” he said.

Duma said while there have been those who have sought to look at this ANC policy as a ploy to loot resources, there was nothing malicious about radical socio- economic transformation.

“We cannot afford to belittle or mock it because we do so at our own peril, as both the government and the ‘haves’ of our society.

“When we criminalise the general aspirations of the poor and the middle strata for access to meaningful economic inclusion, we create the risk that no one among us will be secure, our progress will not be sustainable and our society will not be stable,” he said.