[There are some plusses in the S.African economy, but they’re not due to the Government. In fact, the Government is the thing holding this economy back with all its rules.

What is good is the Gold price – and there seems to be an increase in confidence since 1998. But this could simply be due to overreactions and fears to ANC rule in the early 1990’s. And it doesn’t mean new fears won’t arise.

The new National Credit Bill is scary stuff, and I’d like to see what that does to the economy.

The reason things are still running is because whites have adjusted to the rules and tried to work around them.

Mbeki and the ANC are over-stating the hopes though. Remember, for years, Zambia, Zimbabwe and other African Cess pools were doing quite well, and then they went and crashed and fell apart.

S.African infrastructure is unquestionably being destroyed. So that bodes ill for the future. Rest assured the ANC will yet preside over the ruins of this country. You don’t need to be psychic to see that coming.

A supporter of mine was telling me how her son is a doctor and he was telling her how we are running out of doctors. The only remaining doctors we have are well over the age of 50. The youngsters have all been leaving the country in droves.

Mbeki’s great visions won’t pan out. Jan]

This year may have been an annus horribilis for the ANC, but President Thabo Mbeki is looking at the brighter side of things as 2005 comes to a close.

In his last ANC Today online letter for the year, Mbeki was upbeat about the state of the South African economy, saying it had achieved the highest growth rate since 1984.

However, he did not shy away from ill-discipline in the ruling party and allies, and also had harsh words for those violently protesting against the recent controversial changes to provincial boundaries.

On South Africa’s economic growth, he said: “The economy has grown during every quarter since 1998, representing an unprecedented upswing in our recorded economic history.”

Inflation had remained within the targeted three to six percent band for 27 consecutive months, while business confidence was at a 23-year high.

Mbeki quoted with approval the view of London-based Neil Gregson of Credit Suisse Asset Management that “there is no doubt that South Africa is firing on all cylinders”.

On issues of the continent, Mbeki said Africans should celebrate the reality “that our continent has made important advances with regard to a whole range of important areas, including peace, democracy, economic development and poverty alleviation”.

However, he also said that national democratic organisations should ask themselves, when confronting their daily challenges, whether they were in fact trying to achieve a better life for their people.

Referring obliquely to the ANC’s woes over the past year, he said: “This is particularly relevant to us as we reflect on the lessons of the year 2005, during which we have seen activities that are totally foreign to our broad movement.”

These had included people who posed as members of the ANC and were engaging in various unacceptable activities, Mbeki said.

“I refer here to the burning and destruction of public property, and the perpetration of violence against legitimate representatives of our movement, including their property.

“I refer to the destruction of the property and symbols of our movement, and contemptuous disregard for our movement’s democratic processes, such as those that relate to the selection of our candidates for our legislatures.”

The ANC held its national list conference in Johannesburg this week to consolidate nominations for ward and proportional lists for local government candidates. The lists have been returned to ANC structures in all provinces, allowing for a process of appeals and objections, and will be finalised in early January.

Mbeki said he was also referring to attacks against the organs of a democratic South Africa, including “assaulting police officers with petrol bombs”.

“I also have in mind mischievous efforts to elevate administrative issues, such as the demarcation of provincial boundaries, into important issues of the national democratic revolution, to divert attention away from the fundamental concerns of the masses of the people,” the president wrote.

This article was originally published on page 1 of The Mercury on December 19, 2005

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>