He reiterated the points he made in last week’s State of the Nation Address. He says the idea of a mixed economy is not new – this was outlined in great detail by the African National Congress (ANC) in its 1992 “Ready to Govern” document.

However, the President says South Africa must work to forge a new consensus to revive an economy that has been plagued by low growth and unemployment for the last decade.

In his letter, President Cyril Ramaphosa says there is not a choice between a strong developmental state and a vibrant private sector as the country needs both for a thriving economy.

He says that State Owned Enterprises are important drivers of employment and growth and must be strengthened.

At the same time government is proceeding with measures to support small, medium and micro businesses through tax incentives, access to finance and enabling regulatory legislation.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions is also highly critical of Ramaphosa’s stance. The National Spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla, says the President continues to pander to business.

“When he talks about the private sector, let’s look at the youth wage subsidy that was adopted over a decade ago, where are the jobs that the youth wage subsidy was supposed to create? There are none. Let’s look at the youth employment scheme that he introduced, where are the jobs? The only thing in his own State of the Nation Address that he talked about is the Presidential Employment Programme where he can give us numbers because none of these other schemes have worked, in fact the fact that none of these have been cancelled is tantamount to government running a corporate welfare scheme where he gives money to corporates with the hope that they will create jobs and government keeps hoping against hope.”

It is a view shared by the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu).  The Labour Federation’s President, Zwelinzima Vavi says business has not shown itself to be trustworthy and willing to contribute positively towards South Africa’s economy.

“They are moving R400 billion illicitly through financial outflows and mispricing and they are looting 35 to 40 % of the procurement budget of the country, that is between R250 billion to R350 billion. According to Judge Dennis Davis they are dodging their tax responsibility to the tune of R50 billion annually and that is how business has been patriotic to South Africa.”

SABC