South Africa, as the country with the second largest Gross Domestic Product economy in Africa after Nigeria, is becoming more and more of an embarrassment for Africa as a trade destination, and is even jeopardising the free-trade agreement between African nations.
With its irrational policy directions, poor governance, state capture and corruption, the ANC has landed South Africa in a serious predicament, where investor confidence keeps waning and there is very little hope for economic growth and job creation.
While South Africans must increasingly use their after-tax earnings to make up for government’s shortcomings, the value for tax money keeps decreasing and unemployment keeps rising, the ANC government is exerting a growing socialist influence on each South African through its irrational legislation and actions.
The adoption of the Copyright Amendment Bill in September 2022, which dilutes the protection of copyright through implementing a myriad of copyright exclusions, the Employment Equity Amendment Bill, which imposes race targets and has already been ratified by President Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, which the ANC majority steamrollered through this week, expropriates South Africans of quality healthcare and creates a negative climate for investor confidence and economic growth.
South Africa is currently also running the risk of being kicked out of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which the USA will review in 2025.
A number of key American officials recently requested the White House to issue a warning to South Africa by moving the 2023 AGOA forum, which South Africa would have hosted, to a different country in protest against South Africa’s support of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
South Africa should not expect any preferential treatment from the international community, and will have to perform competitively to retain its position in the international trade and commerce community.
The ANC government does not have what it takes to get South Africa back on the right track, so, South Africans must make use of the 2024 elections to replace the ANC with a multiparty coalition government.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Jaco Mulder on FF Plus
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