Mbeki warns ANC against hollow promises

Collaboration needed to pull SA out of low-growth trap

The ANC will not be able to implement the commitments presented in its local government election manifesto unless the economy grows, former president Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday. Addressing business and professionals, Mbeki said it would be irresponsible for the ANC to present its commitments to voters without acknowledging the failures of its governance across municipalities and without presenting solutions on how the manifesto would be implemented.

The ANC will not be able to implement the commitments presented in its local government election manifesto unless the economy grows, former president Thabo Mbeki says.

The governing party intends to fight corruption, rescue the ailing economy and create jobs. It has conceded that under its leadership the country’s municipalities have become unstable, with declining revenues and waning provision of basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity.

It has also owned up to inadequate oversight of and accountability for municipal resources.

The ANC’s manifesto, however, is slim on details on how the party will fund the implementation of its commitments given that the majority of the country’s cash-strapped municipalities are dysfunctional.

Addressing business and professionals on Thursday, Mbeki said it would be irresponsible for the ANC to present its commitments to voters without acknowledging the failures of its governance across municipalities without presenting solutions on how the manifesto would be implemented.

“It’s a serious crisis impacting millions of people ... To build a road costs money ... We make all sorts of commitments in the manifesto [but] who pays? Where are the resources going to come from for all of that?” he asked.

Mbeki said that to ensure SA escapes its low-growth trap, which has been worsened by the pandemic, and achieves sustainable, rapid growth, social partners including business are required to work together with the government to implement its economic recovery plans.

Only in this way, would municipalities be able to provide services to voters.

JOB RATE

The government economic reconstruction and recovery plan, released last October, focuses on key government interventions such as a large employment stimulus package, an infrastructure drive and a pledge to accelerate the generation of energy.

It also pledges to fast-track long-promised reform measures. This is expected to create more than 3-million jobs over the next 10 years and a growth rate of 3% a year.

“That job rate ... will not take us out of where we are today. We will probably find that at the end of that 10-year period the numbers of unemployed have not decreased, and may very well have increased,” Mbeki said.

The economic recovery plan, released by Business for SA (B4SA) in July last year identifies 12 initiatives that aim to accelerate the country’s economic recovery, and could grow GDP by R1-trillion, generate 1.5-million jobs and increase tax revenues by R100bn a year. The plan will require R3.4-trillion in funds over the next three years.

Under current economic conditions, Mbeki said the proposals presented by the business sector were more feasible. However, he added that since the release of the B4SA economic recovery plan there had been minimum movement from business, the government and other social partners to work together to implement a cohesive economic recovery plan.

“The figures presented by business about what is likely to happen ... We need a social plan that would be binding on all of us. If that is done then we will get the resources that are needed to deal with these problems that are legitimately raised in the local municipalities.”

In a bid to attract voters and win back its crucial metros lost to the opposition in 2016 municipal

polls, the ANC has been on a reform drive that includes increased vetting of its councillor and mayoral candidates ahead of the November 1 polls.

“What we see is a response to a very serious problem within the ANC, and that problem is that over the years the quality of the membership of the ANC has degenerated and it’s a problem that the ANC leadership has recognised,” he said.