Chair, South Africa is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, especially metals and minerals. There is a commodity boom in the world and naturally South Africa is one of the major beneficiaries. That is one reason why we are seeing the growth. At the same time, in South Africa, since 1994, we have seen a significant growth in the black middle class since the end of apartheid.
We are seeing an inclusive society with greater economic opportunities for black people and it is for that reason that we are seeing more black people with disposable income who also contribute to growth, albeit unbalanced growth.
Under colonialism, apartheid as well as business and government chose only to focus on providing raw materials and did not insist on mineral beneficiation. Government then helped the mining industry by ensuring a supply of cheap and unskilled labour for the mines to produce the raw material. This was achieved through political repression and social and economic discrimination so that we ended up with a situation where there was plenty of unskilled, cheap labour which focused on the mining of raw materials and excluded beneficiation of the abundant minerals in South Africa.
The then government did not have an industrial strategy that was aimed at taking full advantage of South Africa's competitive advantage. Above all, the apartheid government also did not invest in human resource development. That is why today we are battling with the skills needed and we are, therefore, working with a different institution that supports the development of skills. We are also focused on ensuring that we increase the content of manufactured goods that South Africa is selling to the markets.
It is through such activities that South Africa is going to have balanced growth. Hon members would also realise that in Asgisa, when we talk about unbalanced growth, it is because we are saying that there is too much raw material and not enough manufactured products.
Asgisa therefore is a response to this situation because, through Asgisa, we are identifying and responding to the different causes of this unbalanced growth, including the fact that there isn't shared growth, which on its own is a symptom of an economy that is not diversified enough. I thank you.