Ramaphosa’s only ‘success’ is forging ahead with NDR - Biznews
18 February 2021 - Despite the many pious platitudes in last week’s SONA (state-of-the-nation address), the only ‘reforms’ President Cyril Ramaphosa is busy implementing are the policy shifts needed to advance the national democratic revolution (NDR) to which both he and the SACP/ANC alliance have long been committed.
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n an article published on BizNews last year, the IRR’s Anthea Jeffery described the National Democratic Revolution as a ‘Soviet-inspired programme intended to take the country by incremental steps – and over a period of 40 years or more – from a capitalist economy to a socialist one’. Jeffery elaborates further, listing three of the ‘most damaging’ interventions that were to be introduced at the time. One of them was allowing for expropriation without compensation – a topic that has many South Africans fearing the future. The potential damage of EWC on the economic growth of South Africa is a cause for concern. Speaking to Jackie Cameron, independent financial advisor Dawn Ridler outlined why land expropriation doesn’t work, using examples from the past. ‘I just worry that we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. If we take acquisition without compensation – which is in violation of property rights norms in the West – that could impact on our direct investment and impact on economies’. Here, the IRR’s Head of Policy Research – in great detail – outlines the potential impact of NDR, stating ‘above all, we must abandon the NDR and unshackle the economy from the leg-irons it has forged’. This article was first published on the Daily Friend. – Jarryd Neves