DA's Plan for Growth and Jobs - Democratic Alliance

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PreambleThe 8% Growth Project is the Democratic Alliance’s policy agenda for economic change thatwill open job opportunities to millions of South Africans. It sets out how we will work tochange our economy from one that grows at 3% per year, to one that grows at 8%.Economies like Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam have all recently achieved annual growthrates of 8%, and their average growth rates have exceeded 6% over the past decade. Thishas allowed them to achieve extraordinary results in tackling social ills like poverty,unemployment and inequality.South Africa, on the other hand, has averaged only 3.6% growth in GDP over the pastdecade, reaching a high of 5.6% in the boom years of 2006 and 2007. This has not beensufficient to significantly roll back unemployment, or provide opportunities for people to liftthemselves out of poverty.Economic growth is the essential ingredient. No country has created jobs without growth.There are many constraints to growth in our country, but underpinning them all is the factthat too many South Africans are left out of the economy and are unable to make acontribution to driving growth because they can’t find work; they can’t attain skills; they can’tstart businesses; and they lack access to capital assets.In short, too few people in South Africa actively participate in the country’s economy.You can see this from South Africa’s labour market where our unemployment rate hasaveraged 27% (using the narrow definition of unemployment) over the past decade. This isby far the highest of any developed country or emerging market in the world and three timeshigher than unemployment rates in Brazil, Turkey and Ghana.And you can see it in the state of entrepreneurship in South Africa where only 9.1% of theeligible population is engaged in entrepreneurial activity. This is less than half the proportionin comparable middle-income developing countries such as Argentina, Thailand or Chile.The apartheid government denied millions of South Africans access to economicopportunities and built an economy of insiders and outsiders, principally dominated by largestate and private companies.Eighteen years after the end of apartheid, this basic structure has not changed, and SouthAfrica remains a country of insiders and outsiders with Big Government, Big Unions andsome anti-competitive Big Businesses on one side, and millions of ordinary of South Africanson the other.The DA’s solution is to make markets work for the many, not just the few. The state has aresponsibility to intervene when markets fail, but also when powerful public and privatesector players abuse their market power at the expense of others.This is central to the DA’s vision of a state that provides an enabling environment foreconomic growth by ensuring access to markets, credit and skills; limiting negativeexternalities; attracting trade and investment, and ensuring the economy has theinfrastructure it needs in order to grow.The policies here take us a step closer to fulfilling this vision at national level.9 | P a g e
They will change the status quo and help our country achieve higher growth by increasingparticipation in the economy. They will make it easier for South Africans to start and growtheir own businesses. They will give more people the education they need to get a job.They will promote investment by companies so they can create more jobs by incentivisingthem to hire and train more people. And they will help them to trade with other countries,especially in Africa, stimulate growth, and create yet more jobs.If we break down the barriers that maintain the insider/outsider economy, the barriers thatprevent people from getting a job; from having a real stake in the economy; from enjoying abetter standard of living, and instead build a dynamic, stakeholder-led economy that opensand expands economic opportunities to all, we believe South Africa has what it takes to growat 8%.This document presents the DA’s plan to get us there.10 | P a g e
Page 1 and 2: The DA’s Plan for Growth and Jobs
Page 4 and 5: Foreword by Helen Zille, Leader of
Page 6 and 7: Foreword by Wilmot James, Federal C
Page 8 and 9: LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMSB
Page 12 and 13: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYBreaking down barr
Page 14 and 15: A preferable, more nuanced approach
Page 16 and 17: The DA’s policy proposals in this
Page 18 and 19: Engage Africa as a strategic econom
Page 20 and 21: This high unemployment underpins wi
Page 22 and 23: operative government’. The separa
Page 24 and 25: South Africa growth in GDP, 2000 to
Page 26 and 27: The situation is exacerbated by pol
Page 28 and 29: elieves that, with our rich mineral
Page 30 and 31: Inefficient resource allocation: Re
Page 32 and 33: credit, while the employees of thes
Page 34 and 35: have the intended effect. In develo
Page 36 and 37: FISCAL AND MONETARY POLICY PRIORITI
Page 38 and 39: Presidency and VIP security have in
Page 40 and 41: OPENING JOB OPPORTUNITIES TO ALLThe
Page 42 and 43: LONG-TERM POLICY PROPOSALSPolicy ou
Page 44 and 45: Policy outcome: Flexibility in labo
Page 46 and 47: an accredited V-TAP Certificate. Th
Page 48 and 49: SA’s global education rankingsInd
Page 50 and 51: BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS TO INCLUSION
Page 52 and 53: shareholders, and any employee alre
Page 54 and 55: SA Sports AcademyEstablish a world-
Page 56 and 57: (b) Specify that the annual financi
Page 58 and 59: Small Business Growth: A Key Driver
Page 60 and 61:
Breaking down the barriers that kee
Page 62 and 63:
and (ii) registering the Title Deed
Page 64 and 65:
E-government in Africa (global rank
Page 66 and 67:
Internet users in South Africa and
Page 68 and 69:
Policy outcome: Improved state effi
Page 70 and 71:
In the interests of sustaining stro
Page 72 and 73:
LONG-TERM POLICY PROPOSALSPolicy ou
Page 74 and 75:
Simplify import and export procedur
Page 76 and 77:
Assessment Unit, located in the Pre
Page 78 and 79:
The DA in Government: ‘No Frills
Page 80 and 81:
A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR ALLWe have
Page 82 and 83:
LONG-TERM POLICY PROPOSALSPolicy ou
Page 84 and 85:
MEDIUM-TERM POLICY PROPOSALSPolicy
Page 86 and 87:
CONCLUSIONSouth Africa’s economy
Page 88:
than limit, economic opportunities
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DA's Plan for Growth and Jobs - Democratic Alliance

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