by Caiphas Chimhete
South Africa successfully entered its second year under a democratic government last month. It did so against a background of an improved economic performance, although the inevitable teething problems in the changing social and political spheres linger on. The second democratic budget announced on 15 March this year by the ANC-led Government of National Unity (GNU), attempted to balance increased social spending with incentives for foreign investors in order to improve the business climate, damaged by apartheid policies.
In the budget, the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) — a sustainable programme whose main objective is to improve the quality of life for all South Africans – received over USS688 million for projects under its direct control. The RDP encompasses education, housing, health, job creation and general welfare. Social services took up 57.4 percent of the expenditure, up from last year’s 52.8 percent. Education and health were the biggest beneficiaries at the expense of defence, which dropped by 11. 4 percent from the previous fiscal year.
One of the greatest achievements of the GNU in only 12 months is, perhaps, its ability to allay the fears of the country’s right-wing group by pursuing “a middle of the road policy” in line with the goal of peace and reconciliation. This policy – labelled as a “soft policy” by its critics who wanted a faster and more radical change – has benefitted the South African economy through instilling confidence in the foreign investors, whose presence could greatly help the country’s economy.
Finance Minister Chris Liebenberg expects the economy to grow by 2.7 percent this year, while most economists estimate a growth of up to three percent. In the course of the year, South Africa became the eleventh member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and was given the task of coordinating a new sector of Finance and Investment set up for the mobilization of regional financial resources necessa1y for investment.
SADC was irut1a1Jy created with the goal of reducing the economic dependence of neighbouring, black majority ruled countries on the apartheid regime. The region has, therefore a lot to gain from the country’s post-apartheid integration into the community.
One major achievement of the GNU is that it has managed to change the education system to incorporate all races after 48 years of apartheid education. The modifications include the integration of the 18 separate racially-based education departments into nine provincial departments.
The government has introduced free education for the first 10 years of schooling, a decision that increased the levels of enrolment for the first grade at the beginning of this year. A lot, however, remains to be done in that sector, the main obstacle being insufficient resources.
On other social sectors, results have been mixed, although the balance is an optimistic one. Since the April 1994 elections, 3 78 171 homes were electrified, much more than the RDP’s target of 300 000 for the same period.
The need to provide decent housing to more than seven million homeless people is, however, one of the greatest challenges facing the one year-old government. Housing expenditure went up from last year’s 1.3 percent of the budget to 3.4 percent this year.
The government plans to build one million houses this year, but only a few houses have been built so far. A spokesperson for the Department of Housing says that last year was spent on policy formulation and planning, but “delivery still start in earnest this year and the pace will accelerate progressively”. Housing Minister Sankie Nkondo, who succeeded the late Joe Slovo, assures that housing for many South Africans is about to become a reality. “We now have policies in place to repair the tom fabric of South Africa’s cities and towns,” she says.
Health is another sector where urgent action is needed. Currently 75 percent of the population do not live within walking distance to health facilities. Nothing much has changed in the health sector except that health institutions now accept patients from all races – and this, in the South African context is no minor achievement for year one of the post-apartheid era.
This year’s budget reserved 13.4 percent of the total budget for the health sector, a slight increase from last year’s 12.5 percent. Despite that, however, many people cannot afford to pay for health care.
Regardless of a comparatively improved economy, unemployment remains a time-bomb in South Africa. Currently, 4. 7 million people are unemployed, of which three million are blacks. Jobless South Africans are diverting their anger and frustrations on foreigners whom they accuse of “stealing jobs and increasing crime”. This xenophobic attitude resulted in the killing of 21 illegal immigrants and injuring· of several others in April this year.
Of the 400 000 school-leavers who graduate annually, less than five percent get jobs. The Minister of Labour, Tito Mboweni, says the National Economic Forum bas set aside R222 million for job creation projects, of which R40 million already invested resulted in the creation of jobs for 16 965 people.
Economists say to eliminate unemployment, an annual economic growth of 8.8 percent would be required for the next ten years – assuming the current growth rate in the labour force and level of productivity remain constant.
A year after the historic all-race elections, landlessness is still a source of discontent among most black South Africans despite few communities winning back their )and. Many blacks believe the government is not solving the land question quickly enough. Thus some have gone to the extent of invading occupied land, some of which has been earmarked for small-scale housing projects.
In an attempt to address the land problems, the GNU repealed the 1913 and 1936 land Acts along, with other apartheid legislations. Currently, land is being redistributed according to the land Restitution Act promulgated in November 1994 by Parliament.
The Act allows individuals or communities displaced under the apartheid Land Acts to reclaim their land or receive compensation.
Celebrating the first anniversary, President Nelson Mandela announced a special amnesty for prisoners as a gesture of goodwill. The amnesty applies to those charged for possession — before the December 1993 deadline – of arms, ammunition and those charged for political crimes.
On the same day, Mandela approved the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Bill, which established the Truth Commission to enquire into human rights violations committed by all sides during apartheid. The establishment of the truth commission has U1Stilled fear in some National Party (NP) officials who feel their “dirty tricks” would be revealed. But the Minister of Justice, Dullah Omar says that the government is more committed to exposing the truth.
“The commission would enable the country to come to terms with its past by demanding the disc1osure of abuses, granting amnesty to offenders and awarding compensation to victims”, says Omar.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (JFP) has also rejected the establishrnent of the Truth and reconciliation Commission on calling it a “politically motivated witch hunt” of the coalition government’s opponents.
The death sentence, one of the cornerstone policies of the brutal apartheid .regime, has been abolished by Parliament. All 453 prisoners who were on death row in the country will have their sentences commuted to life m prison.
The decision has been well received especially by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), which has campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty since 1987. I am extremely pleased with the decision, the abolition has put us among democratic countries that have scrapped the death penalty,” says LHR representative, Ahmed Motala.
Regardless of the policy of reconciliation pursued by President Mandela, ethnic-inspired tension is still prevalent m some sectors of South African society. Some rightwingers still do not want black rule. We regard it as a day of sorrow and regret”, said one Afrikaner, of April 27, South Africa’s Freedom Day.
Some even flew their own “freedom flags” at half-mast outside their offices in Pretoria. The
right-wingers are pledging to continue their fight for Boer independence, insisting that different ethnic groups can never live together. Adding to tensions, Home Affairs Minister, Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s continued demand for international mediation over outstanding constitutional matters since elections could further threaten stability in South Africa. Buthelezi is urging Zulus to “resist central government” until the pre-election promise by the ANC to debate the issue has been honoured, but Mandela feels that it is no longer necessary as South Africans can solve their own problems.
The call to resist central government could lead to increased violence in Kwazulu/Natal province where more than 1 000 people have died since April last year. Despite a year of democracy, crime and violence continue to haunt the country.
Since the all-race elections of last year, 62 358 armed robberies have been reported in the country,, more than half of them perpetuated in the Gauteng region (formerly PWV). In a bid to reduce crime and violence, the government increased police force allocation by 3.4 percent on the budget, following suggestions by some economists that violence and the crime rate could scare off potential investors.
The road ahead of the South African government is not an easy one, as the government has to continue to reconcile the demands and needs of a population that was made diverse by apartheid, with a number of resources that (even if they are by far more vast than those of neighbouring countries) are insufficient to meet all the expectations awakened by the demise of the racist regime.
As President Mandela once said, the things promised during the election campaign would not be delivered overnight.
“I went around the country telling people we would ensure better life for everyone. Today I have brought you none of those things, and I might not be able to bring you good news for 1995,” Mandela told squatters outside Johannesburg late last year.
With peace and democratic institutions, the GNU has delivered acceptably well during its first year in power, and perspectives ahead seem good.
But long-nurtured dreams, as President Mandela warmed, will not be realized overnight. It seems obvious that a priority in policy-making is that unity be fostered to create a favourable environment for growth, and with it, development. (SARDC)
