Getting It Right: A New Economy for South Africa by Burger, P.

ISBN: 9780639902418

Publisher: KMM Review Publishing Company (Pty) Ltd 2018

Soft cover

419 pages

Not only is South Africa in an economic rut, but high levels of corruption, patronage and state capture also means it suffers from severe institutional rot. This rot distracts attention from policy debates, while the accompanying political and administrative mismanagement creates policy uncertainty. Policy uncertainty and economic underperformance, in turn, lead to low investment. The result is low economic growth and high unemployment.

The first democratic government in 1994 inherited an underperforming economy with a broken labour system. Apartheid's labour system comprised a labour market that up to the mid-1980s suffered from the stifling effects of job reservation. It also comprised the Bantu education system and the Bantustan, and influx control system.

Within the first three years, the first democratic government introduced new labour legislation that modernised the South African labour market and protected worker rights. Democracy also meant that the Bantustan governments were abolished (although traditional chiefs were left in place) and the fragmented, race-based education departments were merged into a non-racial education system. But these reforms did not bring work and prosperity.

In his new book, Professor Philippe Burger explains why this did not happen. Central to this explanation is policy failure and patronage. He also sets out to explain the key problems inhibiting economic growth, job creation and a reduction of inequality and poverty, and discusses the actions that should constitute the government's policy agenda. These actions are intended to introduce the necessary structural and policy changes needed to put South Africa on the road towards prosperity and higher levels of employment.

Suffice it to say that South Africa needs a drastic change of direction if the country is to have a higher, more inclusive level of economic activity and a better livelihood for all.