When considered in the context of the scathing indictment of the economic state of the country made by Melanie Veness, chairperson of the Association of South African Chambers of Commerce (The Mercury, November 29), President Ramaphosa’s recent charm offensive in KZN canvassing for the re-election of the ANC stands out as deceitful in the extreme.
Daily the demise of the country is front page news. The November 29th edition of The Mercury provides a case in point. Three major articles featured the plight of industries as a consequence of load shedding, the inability of the ANC-controlled eThekwini municipality to manage its infrastructure, and the looming threat of liquidation because the ANC cannot even manage its own finances.
The headlines of Business Report on December 1 signal a further demise: the automotive industry is in dire straits thanks to the inefficiencies of Eskom and Transnet. Ford and Volkswagen have both indicated that their future in the country is questionable. Ford’s SA president, Neale Hill, warned that Ford’s SA operation could relocate to Thailand where the business climate is more stable and favourable.
The closure of ArcelorMittal’s steel operation in Newcastle, affecting potentially 3,500 jobs and the thousands of dependents on those breadwinners, and the knock-on effect the closure will have on numerous secondary industries and their employees, all amounts to another dark page in the ever-darkening socio-economic fortunes of South Africa under the ANC.
As Melanie Veness rightly and fearlessly states: “We have reached the end of the road. There’ll be more business casualties if the government doesn’t let the private sector in now to fix Eskom and Transnet and if leadership does not address safety and security issues as well as service delivery failures at a local level and re-think their anti-growth policies. You cannot make conditions impossible to trade in and then be surprised when businesses fail,” (The Mercury, November 29).
If there was a shred of a sense of shame and conscience within the ANC it should refrain from indulging in hollow rhetoric and face up to the reality of its 29-year legacy. For a cult that likes to boast about its pre-1994 history, it should recognise that its legacy since 1994 is one of squandering, corruption, neglect, impoverishment, and destruction.
Based on that legacy, the ANC should disband because it has no legitimate claim to be considered for re-election. None of the failings of the 1910–1994 period compare to the abject state into which the ANC has plunged the country.
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