The story that all the ills of
the South African economy stem from the domination of the economy by White
Monopoly Capital is a myth created for reasons of political expediency, and is
demonstrably devoid of any truth. Almost every medium-large company, and every
large one, is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and the shares in them
are available for purchase by any person, including persons who are not part of
the supposed White clique whose sole aim in life is to dominate the economy at
the cost of the Blacks. The simple fact is that a large proportion of those
shares is already owned, indirectly at least, by Blacks, through their pension
funds and insurance policies, and more could be purchased for a relatively
modest sum.
Even if we were to ignore those
facts, the question is why should Whites, monopolists or otherwise, not run
those companies?
The companies in question
represent the vast bulk of employment opportunities in the economy, apart from
the Government jobs which are a form of grossly-overpaid unemployment insurance
for mainly unqualified persons, a system of subsidy that has come at great cost
to the South African public, but which forms an effective way of buying the votes
of those so employed. If the supposedly White-dominated companies were to
disappear, the present rate of unemployment would almost certainly soar,
probably to more than double the 35%+ that it now is. If you doubt that figure,
consider the fate of the numerous successful commercial farms that collapsed
within, at most, two years after the Government handed them over to Blacks. It
is rumoured that the failure rate of those farms lies at about 97%,
notwithstanding the huge amount of public money that has been sunk into them. The
fault for that did not lie in any inferiority of the new Black owners, but
rather in the fact that to be a successful commercial farmer, the managers of
the farm must have extensive training after receiving a good education. In most
cases, that is added after the farmer has acquired a cultural background of the
processes and mindset of such farming. A man does not become a good farmer, a
successful commercial farmer, simply by acquiring the land. The same applies to
a manager in a business. It is something that is learned over many years, and
the number of Blacks who have acquired that learning is small at present. That
number will increase, as the best of the current crop of young Black employees
work their way through the system, in exactly the same way as their Indian,
Chinese, Coloured and White counterparts, and they should be encouraged to
compete for the relatively few jobs available at the senior levels, to ensure
that the new generation of senior managers are the best that the country can
produce.
The fact that those shouting the
slogan do not have even a low level of understanding of what realization of
their demands would imply is evident from the catastrophic shape of the
economy. They are making the call on the basis of a background of political training
and political, communist, brainwashing by others who were equally unaware of
the hard facts of business life. Jacob Zuma was a herd boy, and then a
terrorist, neither of which could give any understanding of the thinking and
economic background of the way the world operates, which are required to be
effective at even a low level in a modern business activity. He has made
numerous statements that are proof of this assertion, and his performance as a
manager of the economy and of the activities of the members of his Cabinet is abysmal,
to say the least. Zuma’s chief protégé at one time is Julius Malema, another
man with absolutely no understanding of the business world. These two men know
how to buy favours, but neither of them has contributed to the promotion of
economic activity. Do they seriously believe that the disappearance of White
Monopoly Capitalists would create a stronger economy or more jobs? Who do they
think would create the profits to pay the taxes that their polices would
distribute so profligately?
Quite apart from these
considerations, the insistence by the political leaders on the use of the term ‘White
Monoply Capital’ places a heavy emphasis on the ‘White’ element, placing on the
broad group of Whites by implication an accusation of wrongdoing, that the
Whites are to blame for everything that is wrong in the society, even after 23
years of rule by the ANC. Surely that would be long enough to rid the country
of those ‘evil’ whites if, in fact, they are evil. That term is creating a
racial disharmony that threatens to undo much of what Nelson Mandela and Ahmed
Kathrada worked to achieve, a non-racial South Africa in which every person is
free to contribute what he or she can to the country, and to benefit from the
common welfare. By the very nature of the situation that existed at the start
of that time, the Whites had more knowhow and capital to contribute, which they
did with delight, in the knowledge that their efforts would assist their Black
(and other) compatriots to step up to their own level of capability. However,
as the racism propagated by the ANC and the EFF has grown, so the willingness
of the Whites to play that role of helper and equal partner has declined. The
stronger and more unfair the rules of Black Economic Empowerment have become,
the closer the country has come to a White Economic Empowerment backlash. That
may take the form of a faking or downgrading of the BEE activities so essential
to the development of a Black managerial class, or the emigration of White
capital, or, worst, the emigration of the skilled Whites to countries which
value their capabilities more than do their own countrymen.
Political sloganeering is
dangerous at the best of times, but the type of sloganeering typified by “White
Monopoly Capital’ in the South African context constitutes economic suicide.
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