SA Politics Thread Part 11: The GNU Normal

Status
Not open for further replies.
Major Boredom said:
Canadian market is not as big . BMW SA used to run 3 shifts, Not sure if they are still on that
Click to expand...

Except, if the numbers are to be believed, BMW SA makes around 80000 X3's a year, and only 10 - 15% of that was ever exported to the USA and the Canadian market seems to be around 8000 odd vehicles a year, so if they source all their X3's from SA its almost a 1 for 1 swap in order volume.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Except, if the numbers are to be believed, BMW SA makes around 80000 X3's a year, and only 10 - 15% of that was ever exported to the USA and the Canadian market seems to be around 8000 odd vehicles a year, so if they source all their X3's from SA its almost a 1 for 1 swap in order volume.
Click to expand...
As far as I know none of teh current is being exported to the usa. They were only going to start next year
But still. USA is a huge market , not much serviced by SA , but a lot were coming from Mexico
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1948588113955008963

  • Moeletsi Mbeki, the political economist, says economic stagnation is the country’s biggest problem.
  • South Africa should move from an export-driven economy to one that develops human capital and skills.
  • He blamed the large civil service and BEE for a lack of economic growth.
  • For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
To unlock the South African economy, the public sector (including state-owned enterprises and municipalities) should be halved, says political economist Moeletsi Mbeki.

He was a keynote speaker at a conference in Johannesburg on inclusive economic growth, hosted by the FW de Klerk Foundation.

Mbeki, who is the deputy chairperson of the South African Institute of International Affairs, said economic stagnation was the country’s biggest problem.

“Everything else is the consequence of our under-performing economy.”


Comparing the South African and US economies, which started growing at relatively the same time, Mbeki said the productive capacity of an American is today more than 15 times that of a South African. “How did this happen?”

The US invested in human capital and innovation, whereas South Africa exploited its mineral endowment with unskilled labour. “Repression is the modus operandi of the South African business model, and it continues to this day.”

We should stop exporting raw minerals and “develop human capital and skills to work on our minerals”, he said, referring to South Africa’s “resource curse”.

In addition to that, the post-apartheid government has not created new assets nor wealth, but merely transferred power from “property owners tot non-owners of assets”.


He showed a graphic detailing research from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that 14% of South Africa’s gross domestic product goes into the salaries of government employees.

If you add SOEs and municipalities, the number goes up to 17%.

“Similar countries like Indonesia are at 6% at most. The new elite is milking the economy of South Africa, contributing to the stagnation of the economy. They are not investing; they are consuming.

“You have to reduce the public sector remuneration from 17% to 6% of GDP. The almost 10% savings should go into investment in railways, schools and infrastructure. Investment in South Africa is sitting at a disgraceful 15% of GDP. In India and South Korea, it’s over 30% of GDP.”

‘Moeletsi revolution’​

But, said Mbeki, it is unlikely the current government will make these deep cuts. “We need a Moeletsi revolution,” he said to laughter.

He earlier described the government of national unity (GNU) as a “middle-class feast between the African middle-class and the English-speaking middle-class”.

Mbeki had harsh words for the consequences of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), saying it “disincentivises young black professionals from becoming entrepreneurs and incentivises them to become public sector employees… we have to create a new entrepreneurial class”.

Professor William Gumede from Wits University’s School of Governance said the current iteration of BEE should be scrapped in favour of new ways of empowerment.

“The way it is structured now gives politically connected ANC leaders shares in existing companies. This is wrong. We need to move to small businesses, bringing them into supply chain and manufacturing. Secondly, we need to reward skills and employment. If you employ young people, that is empowerment.

“If you adopt a school, that is empowerment. If mining companies build infrastructure, that is empowerment. If they build housing, that is empowerment. If you create new sectors in South Africa that didn’t exist, that is empowerment. Let’s take the colour out of it. Black people in the majority are poor, so the majority of projects will prioritise black people.”


On public sector reform, Gumede urged for focus on state failure. “Let’s look at the catalytic part of the state and focus on that. The economic entities, the infrastructure entities, the key departments for economic growth.

“Let’s bring in merit-based appointments, let’s deal with corruption and hold them accountable. We cannot fix all the parts of the state, but let’s focus on the core.”

Gumede said dealing with corruption was paramount to economic growth. “If we can seriously reduce corruption, just with 10-15%, we can get 3% economic growth just out of that.”
Click to expand...
There might be some raging from cadres...
 
Major Boredom said:
As far as I know none of teh current is being exported to the usa. They were only going to start next year
But still. USA is a huge market , not much serviced by SA , but a lot were coming from Mexico
Click to expand...

Yeah, currently none are.

But previous gen, was about 10 - 15% of production capacity to the USA.
 
Agent69 said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1948588113955008963


There might be some raging from cadres...
Click to expand...

In broad strokes I do agree with him, though I think cutting the public service by 50% would be political suicide for any political party at this point.

Trimming the public service over a decade to half its current size is maybe possible, but it would need to be tied with economic growth so that those people had the opportunity of finding private sector jobs.
 
The_Right_Honourable_Brit said:
He somehow thinks a PA victory by 70.votes is as cataclysmic for the DA as the ANC coming third in a township VD....
Click to expand...
You still haven't explained what is supposed to be a scandal around that.

TheChamp said:
He banna? who invented the law and when? Because the ANC has come third in many 100% black VDs before this one, you are very mistaken if you think some history was made here.
Click to expand...
 
The_Right_Honourable_Brit said:
Wayne Sussman has a tweet that he has never seen it before in Gauteng.
Click to expand...
First it was about the ANC coming third in a 100% black VD, then it became about the ANC coming third in a township VD and now it's Wayne Sussman never having seen it before in Gauteng?

@The_Right_Honourable_Brit, what exactly is the scandal? I don't have all day.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X