Molweni malungu ahloniphekileyo, Mongameli, Sekela Mongameli, asiwabulisi kodwa wona amasela.
English:
President, indeed to turn South Africa around what this country requires is a compelling vision for the future, a comprehensive plan and unrelenting implementation as well as a team to make sure that the implementation of that plan does take place. We do indeed give you credit that at the very least you do have a
vision, but what you delivered in the state of the nation address last week was not a comprehensive plan of how to turn the situation around. We acknowledge that for instance you are saying that the National Development Plan, NDP is a critical plan going forward as a strategy on how to reignite growth in South Africa. We however find this as a contradiction because, a number of proposals you made are about direct intervention or are interventionist policies in the South African economy. If you consider the NDP, it is a neoliberal document that centres on trickled down economics and unfiltered markets.
You need something more aggressive, a strategy that is going to anchor the industrial plan of South Africa. A typical example is that, South Africa faces its worst unemployment rate especially amongst youth. If you were to read different sources, others would put it at 50%; you said over 50%; others would actually put the figure at 57%. If you were to consider the narrow definition of unemployment rate which is 27% and the expanded definition is 36%. The issue here President is that, if we are to address not only the unemployment crisis, the poverty problem in South Africa and extraordinarily high levels of inequality,
you are going to need to think outside of the box. You must not try to use ANC policies that have failed to create jobs over the past. An industrial strategy is critical to this issue and will outline it shortly as to what we are saying.
The other question that is important President, is that let us talk briefly about the mandate of the SA Reserve Bank and say, the debate currently as it ensues in public misguided. It conflates a number of much related but slightly different issues. Firstly, you have ownership of the central bank which is an ideological discussion. Secondly, it is the discontent with the implementation of monetary policy which is inflation targeting and its tendency to overreact in times when inflation shoots up. Thirdly, the mandate of the central bank as captured in Section 224(1) of the Constitution deals with the issue of price stability. Furthermore, Section 224(2) of the Constitution deals with better co-ordination between monetary and fiscal policy which is what has not been happening in South Africa.
In order for us to have a more on once debate on this issue; we need to understand the different and the various levels in which
this matter operates. The other issue that is important President...