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Socialism's good side

A COLUMNIST in a big daily newspaper spoke the other day of our “ANC/Communist Party” government.

“Communist” is the worst insult any conservative can come up with and is often freely applied to our government, which has always amused me: our current regime may even be further removed from the totalitarian nature of communism than the National Party government, with its Egg Boards and Potato Boards and central control over everything.

Of course, there’s a vast amount of confusion of socialism with communism. And socialism is often used interchangeably with social democracy – I’ve heard people refer to countries like Norway as ‘socialist’ – and can anyone actually tell me what the difference is between social democracy and democratic socialism?

Frankly, I’m rather tired of the idea that there are only the two alternatives: Mrs Thatcher’s TINA (there is no alternative but unfettered free markets) and the Bogeyman of Communism or anything with the letters s-o-c-i-a-l in it.

Surely by now most intelligent people have figured out that there are rather ugly and cruel flaws in both systems?

And surely out there somewhere there must be some bright sparks who are thinking outside the straitjacket of capitalism/socialism? (I’m about to plough into some books that might offer ideas, including Thomas Pikkety’s huge seller, Capitalism in the 21st century – will let you know which new ideas take my fancy!)

Our columnist then said that, without all the red tape and regulations and labour laws of the new South Africa, we could have had a prosperous economy and full employment, “like China”. Hmm. Of course, China had virtually full employment – under a communist government which had not yet relaxed into the strange hybrid it is today.

But today? Well, the official unemployment figure given includes only urban workers who have registered as unemployed, and is around 4%, hardly ever budging even when 20 million workers are laid off thanks to the economic crisis… but the unofficial figure is double that – which is a lot of people in China.

And some of them are victims of the very relaxation of the system: “The rapid expansion and commercialization of China’s higher education system over the last decade or more has created a huge over-supply of graduates … Likewise, there is limited demand for unskilled workers in their 40s and 50s…” (China Labour Bulletin, June 22 2013, my italics.)

The bulletin goes on to say: “Although the working-age population will almost certainly decrease in the coming decade, the low wage jobs that have driven China’s economic growth in the past could decrease at an even faster rate.

"Many low-cost, labour-intensive industries have already shifted substantial numbers of jobs to Southeast Asia, while the creation and supply of the high-skilled, value-added jobs the Chinese government covets has been constrained by the limited skills the labour market can currently provide.” Well, that’s a price you have to pay for relaxation, innit?

But our columnist had praise for some things in South Africa, among them the fact that “Millions of our people have been lifted out of the lowest rungs of poverty”. (Yes, I know it should be “lifted OFF the lowest rungs”, but those are not my words.)

Well, yes – and how has that happened? Africacheck.org says that “Prior to the recession South Africa’s unemployment rate was 21.9%. According to StatsSA, 4 830 000 South Africans are classified as unemployed, resulting in an unemployment rate of 24.1%. But StatsSA uses a very narrow definition of ‘unemployment’ which refers only people who are unemployed but actively seeking work.

“An ‘expanded rate’ of unemployment – which includes people who do not have a job and are available to work but have not taken active steps to look for work – suggests that unemployment levels were as high as 34% in the fourth quarter of last year.” (February 14 2014) So it wasn’t job creation that did it, then.

Okay, Mbali at the back of the class, I see your hand. You’re right, it was social grants, neh? Yes, a report on the child support grant confirms what I heard University of the Western Cape’s Professor Julian May say (May heads up the new Centre of Excellence on Food Security, a joint initiative of UWC and University of Pretoria):

“The results of this study identify the positive developmental impact of the Child Support Grant in promoting nutritional, educational and health outcomes. … The study also finds that adolescents receiving the Child Support Grant are more likely to have some positive educational outcomes, are somewhat less likely to experience child labour, and are significantly less likely to engage in behaviours that put their health and well-being at serious risk.” (The South African Child Support Grant Impact Assessment: Evidence from a survey of children, adolescents and their households, May 2012)

What’s not to like? That’s just the child-support side of things, of course. And these grants don’t just pull people out of extreme poverty; they provide a boost to local economies by injecting a bit of money into situations that were otherwise stagnant.

I have seen with my own eyes how a really tiny bit of money enabled a group of people to start a veggie garden, which gave them even more income… ja, it’s a ‘social’ grant, eeuw, get out the garlic and silver crosses – but it does good, both to people and the economy.

So instead of just nixing it because of its ‘social welfare’ nature, why aren’t the clever types thinking of how to make it work better and be less burdensome on our small tax base?

 - Fin24

*Mandi Smallhorne is a versatile journalist and editor. Views expressed are her own.
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