Corruption and patronage are not only depriving South Africans of service delivery‚ but in fact steering the country’s economy away from prosperity‚ the leader of the Democratic Alliance‚ Mmusi Maimane‚ said on Sunday.
Speaking at a public meeting at Worcester in the Western Cape‚ he likened the developmental economy to a rowing boat. “Government steers while the private sector rows‚” he said.
In order to get the economy headed in the right direction the country needed a government that could provide leadership and direction while allowing the private sector to serve as an engine that drove the country toward that goal.
“When that leadership fails us‚ the economy fails us. And that is the situation we face in South Africa today‚” Maimane asserted.
He charged that while some progress had been made in the country‚ this had slowed over the past five years as the ANC had become “increasingly corrupt and focused on the needs of small politically connected elite”.
“The ANC is no longer steering us in the right direction and people are suffering as a result.”
Corruption was one of the greatest threats to the South Africa’s democracy as it diverted limited resources away from service delivery and prevented fair access to job opportunities.
“Poor people suffer while those connected to the ANC government become rich‚” Maimane said‚ adding that the economy was in crisis with more and more people losing their jobs every year.
“Since President Zuma took office‚ unemployment has risen from 31.7% to almost 35%. The means that 1.7 million more South Africans are without jobs than five years ago.
“In order to reverse the rise in unemployment and grow our economy we need to address the problems with corruption and infrastructure at a national level‚” Maimane said.
-RDM News Wire
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