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Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance on Thursday produced what might be a handbook for would-be emigrants. The Parliamentary leader of the party, Athol Trollip, presented a compendium of international statistics showing how truly badly the country is rated under a variety of headings from education standards to perceptions of corruption, from health figures to development indicators.
"The results of these external assessments are telling," Trollip said at a press conference in Parliament. "They build a picture of a country with considerable potential that has made notable strides in areas such as financial market performance, but which continues to fail to provide the most basic services to its people and promote and protect basic freedoms.
"The quality of education and health care under the ANC government is ranked as some of the worst in the world."
The DA draws attention to the Human Development Index, where South Africa has slipped three places down from the rank at which it stagnated for three years. The Global Competitiveness Index, which ranked South Africa as number one according to the regulation of securities exchanges but 137 out of 139 countries for the quality of its science and maths education.
Similarly the Trends in International Maths and Science Study names this country as the worst performer with regard to average maths and science scores.
In the Freedom House Freedom of the Press Index, South Africa's rating has decreased from 'Free' to 'Partly Free' - a rating that does not take into account recent threats to press freedom posed by the Protection of Information Bill.
Freedom House has been monitoring threats to media independence since 1980 and warns that restrictions on the media are often an early warning sign that governments intend to assault other democratic institutions.
The DA leader said the ANC has become characterised by its hostility towards openness and transparency.
"This extends from the current attempts to clamp down on media freedom, to the government's reluctance to release detailed statistics about key aspects of the country's performance," he said.
"These are the hallmarks of a government in denial, whose policy failures have in many cases served to hamper development and whose fear of the truth threatens to prevent it from formulating effective solutions.
"The ANC government's disdain for external appraisals of the country's progress was heightened under former President Thabo Mbeki. As a result, the national administration shunned the findings of international surveys and chose instead to produce its own assessments, for example, the Ten Year Review of the Presidency, which was more spin than statistics.
"However, the ANC government has failed to produce the assessments that really matter, such as regular, comprehensive statistical information about key aspects of South Africa's development, for example, changes in levels of poverty.
"In fact, the government has, as yet, failed to reach consensus on an official measure of poverty. How does the ANC administration plan to effectively combat poverty, identified as one of its top priorities, if it is unable to measure the scale of the problem?"
The DA document also draws attention to the "World's Best Countries" report released recently by the magazine Newsweek. Out of a hundred leading countries South Africa was ranked 88th for the quality of life - as well as being 97th in education and 92nd in health. So far as the political environment was concerned this country came 31st out of 100.
"The results of these external assessments are telling," Trollip said at a press conference in Parliament. "They build a picture of a country with considerable potential that has made notable strides in areas such as financial market performance, but which continues to fail to provide the most basic services to its people and promote and protect basic freedoms.
"The quality of education and health care under the ANC government is ranked as some of the worst in the world."
The DA draws attention to the Human Development Index, where South Africa has slipped three places down from the rank at which it stagnated for three years. The Global Competitiveness Index, which ranked South Africa as number one according to the regulation of securities exchanges but 137 out of 139 countries for the quality of its science and maths education.
Similarly the Trends in International Maths and Science Study names this country as the worst performer with regard to average maths and science scores.
In the Freedom House Freedom of the Press Index, South Africa's rating has decreased from 'Free' to 'Partly Free' - a rating that does not take into account recent threats to press freedom posed by the Protection of Information Bill.
Freedom House has been monitoring threats to media independence since 1980 and warns that restrictions on the media are often an early warning sign that governments intend to assault other democratic institutions.
The DA leader said the ANC has become characterised by its hostility towards openness and transparency.
"This extends from the current attempts to clamp down on media freedom, to the government's reluctance to release detailed statistics about key aspects of the country's performance," he said.
"These are the hallmarks of a government in denial, whose policy failures have in many cases served to hamper development and whose fear of the truth threatens to prevent it from formulating effective solutions.
"The ANC government's disdain for external appraisals of the country's progress was heightened under former President Thabo Mbeki. As a result, the national administration shunned the findings of international surveys and chose instead to produce its own assessments, for example, the Ten Year Review of the Presidency, which was more spin than statistics.
"However, the ANC government has failed to produce the assessments that really matter, such as regular, comprehensive statistical information about key aspects of South Africa's development, for example, changes in levels of poverty.
"In fact, the government has, as yet, failed to reach consensus on an official measure of poverty. How does the ANC administration plan to effectively combat poverty, identified as one of its top priorities, if it is unable to measure the scale of the problem?"
The DA document also draws attention to the "World's Best Countries" report released recently by the magazine Newsweek. Out of a hundred leading countries South Africa was ranked 88th for the quality of life - as well as being 97th in education and 92nd in health. So far as the political environment was concerned this country came 31st out of 100.
