ARTICLE: AFRICA DAY – WHO REALLY HAS THE BIGGEST ECONOMY?
Much has recently been made of reports that Egypt has overtaken South Africa as Africa’s second largest economy and that we have now slipped to third place – with Nigeria in first place. All this has added to South Africa’s sense of national decline – after having prided ourselves for so long as being in an unassailable position as the continent’s largest economy. Commentators must now console South Africans with the reassurance that we are still the most “highly industrialised” economy in Africa.
The relative size of economies is generally measured by assessing their Gross Domestic Products on a PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) basis – which irons out kinks caused by the differences between official exchange rates and the actual purchasing power of the currencies involved.
The hapless Judge Mabel Jansen’s recently exposed comments on social media that black South Africans have a culture of rape were crass and offensive. Jansen commented inter alia that she had “yet to meet a black girl who was not raped by the age of 12” and that in black culture “a woman is there to pleasure them. Period. It is seen as an absolute right and a woman’s consent is not required.”
There is an eerie unreality about the debate that has followed Moody’s decision to retain South Africa’s rating at two notches above junk grade status (with a negative outlook).
World Press Freedom Day (3 May) gives us the opportunity to assess the freedom of our press in South Africa.
Workers’ Day provides us with an opportunity to assess the nation’s labour relations and the degree to which our economy is succeeding in its responsibility to provide jobs for all our people – and particularly for our youth. We are confronted with the reality that, according to a recently released Statistics SA report, The Social Profile of the Youth, 2009-2014, approximately three-quarters (3.4 million) of the more than five million unemployed South Africans in 2014 were youth (aged 15–34 years). This alarming statistic requires an honest introspection into South Africa’s current modus operandi in the labour arena and calls on us to confront the failures that are crippling our ability to create an inclusive and prosperous South Africa – particularly for our young people. There are four obstacles to solving the youth unemployment crisis.
Earlier this week the Minister of the Sport and Recreation, Fikile Mbalula, announced the imposition of sanctions against four of South Africa’s main sporting codes (Athletics South Africa, Cricket South Africa, Netball South Africa and South African Rugby) for not meeting the racial targets that they themselves had earlier accepted. He said that he had resolved “to revoke their privilege … to host and bid for major international tournaments” in South Africa.
There are several aspects to the current “state capture” debate.
Vladimir Lenin said that “when the time comes for us to hang the capitalists they will compete with one another to sell us the rope”. In the same manner, Afrikaners are playing a leading role in assisting the ANC to eclipse Afrikaans as a language of tuition at university level.
South Africans are shocked by scenes playing out of late, particularly on historically Afrikaans campuses. These incidents are part of a process that began at the end of 2015 with #Rhodesmustfall. Shortly afterwards it was #Feesmustfall, with similar origins. Then Open Stellenbosch followed, where racial and anti-Afrikaans sentiments were more visible, and then ReformPuk. At the start of 2016, all of this deteriorated into undisguised racism and xenophobia, with slogans of “F … whites” and even “Kill all the whites” appearing on walls and T-shirts. When art was burned at UCT, students shouted: “It is whiteness burning!”. And last week it culminated at UP with #Afrikaansmustfall and violence and physical attacks and counter-attacks.