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OPINION: Ending inequality the only way to save SA's fading rainbow

Harare - South African business must take pre-emptive initiatives to manage the transformation process or risk opportunistic individuals exploiting a vast reservoir of the aggrieved for selfish gains, according to a leading Zimbabwean academic.

Writing on his blog Alex Magaisa, a Zimbabwean academic and former adviser to former Zimbabwean prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said the most important lesson South African stakeholders can take from Zimbabwe is that “capital must understand that its position will always be imperilled as long as it sits side by side with a vast reservoir of poverty, disaffection and marginalisation,” which can be easily exploited by opportunistic individuals.

Magaisa said South African stakeholders need to minimise and, preferably, eradicate the reservoir of grievances opportunistic individuals are wont to exploit.

“Opportunists can only flourish if opportunities are presented to them and right now South Africa presents vast opportunities for such characters,” he explained.

Using Zimbabwe as an example, Magaisa said the country’s “tragedy is an abject failure by government to deal with the post-colonial conundrum of protecting an established economic order while at the same time having to respond to the demands for a new order.”

Former South African president Nelson Mandela has been criticised for not striking the right balance between protecting capital and uplifting the lives of the marginalised in society, when he took over power from the apartheid regime.

Magaisa believes that in the case of both Zimbabwe and South Africa, independence was a “negotiated settlement(s)” that postponed dealing with the inequalities that existed in society.

“Although the nationalists in both countries like to praise themselves for having won against colonialism and apartheid, the fact of the matter is that they compromised and made important concessions to secure political power,” he wrote.

“The new eras of constitutionalism and the rule of law were excellent but they also protected the gains and privileges of highly unequal and unfair colonial and apartheid societies,” said Magaisa, adding that the situation of the poor and marginalised worsened.

“At some point, rainbows do fade.”

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