The ANC Doesn’t Want Prosperity
A prosperous South Africa would be harder to control. That is why the ANC will never build one.
The ANC doesn’t want South Africa to be rich; it doesn’t want South Africans to be rich. Unless, of course, those South Africans are their cronies and paymasters. Rather, the ruling party wants South Africa to be a deindustrialised, squalor-filled failed state. Because it is easier to control a destitute population than it is to run roughshod over an educated, well-paid middle class.
Despite decades of corruption, mismanagement and disastrous policies, we still have a habit of attributing positive intentions to the ruling party. We like to think that it’s just a few bad eggs.
The country was united behind #ZumaMustFall and combatting state capture pre-2020. But in the years since President Cyril Ramaphosa took the helm, more of the media and the so-called intellectual class have become ANC apologists. Fuelled by imported left-wing ideology from overseas, or too embarrassed by their misplaced faith in Ramaphosa to admit their mistakes, what Lenin called the “useful idiots”, have become firm supporters of the ANC. But why?
Nothing has really improved since Ramaphosa became president. Why should it? He was deputy president under Zuma. He’s been involved in the ruling party since the 90s. He was in the halls of power during every single crisis and every single error.
The ANC wasn’t buoyed into some moral enlightenment by Ramaphosa’s ascension. It was just business as usual. The only difference is Ramaphosa has better PR; while Zuma was willing to loot openly, selling off parcels of South Africa’s critical infrastructure to gangsters, Ramaphosa does it much more privately and insidiously.
Rather than cold, hard gangsterism, Ramaphosa seems more like a true believer in the ANC’s ideological hogwash. He has doubled down on destroying property rights, crucial for literally every successful civilisation to function. Race-based legislation has increased under his tenure, pushing us further down the road of racial resentment and hatred. And our society has become more controlled, chaotic and poverty-stricken. Ramaphosa has firmly aligned South Africa with governments responsible for genocides, brutal invasions and terror attacks, while alienating our profitable trade partners.
Above all that, state-capture never ended. It’s just ANC politicians directly destroying parastatals and failing to fulfil tenders rather than being sold to Zuma’s gangster pals.
This all should lead us to an important conclusion. Zuma wasn’t just an embarrassing episode in the ANC. He was an emblematic symbol of what the ruling party truly represents. Crude vernacular, corrupt dealings, and brain-dead policy. Ramaphosa just took the torch.
But why does the ANC continue to behave in such a manner despite over thirty years of turmoil? Can’t they see that they are causing millions to suffer? Can’t they see that a corrupt police force driven more by graft and ideology than sense will result in thousands dead and raped? Can’t they see that you can’t expect job creation if you alienate the job creators? Can’t they see that you cannot expect competence when incompetence is accepted?
The fact of the matter is that the ANC is aware of all these things. They know that the country is in a kak state. They’ve been told as much by dozens of think-tanks, hundreds of consultants, and countless articles, videos and social media posts. They’ve even admitted, rarely, that their policies aren’t working. But then, nothing changes. They double-down on calls for radical economic transformation, and they blame Jan van Rieebeck.
So, if the ANC knows something is wrong, and they continue to act the same way, why? Is it insanity? Very likely. But also likely is that it is all intentional.
The ANC is an African liberation organisation; a group obsessed with the idea of revolution, communism, and racialised socialism. Wherever this brand of revolutionary Afro-Socialism has been tried, the governments inevitably embrace a feeding frenzy of corruption, state-wide looting, and deindustrialisation.
The reason is that it’s easier to control a poor peasant class than it is to control rich industrialists or an educated middle class. Educated people ask questions. They vote for competent parties. At least, they do so when they haven’t been driven insane by the self-destructive ideology of wokery and transformania.
Rich industrialists are painted as villains because the government struggles to control them. They can leave, taking their expertise and capital with them. The ANC doesn’t want a partnership with big business unless it lines their pockets directly. And there are enough short-sighted businessmen who will wreck the economy for short-term profits.
Prosperity enables dissent and independent from the ruling party. Income earners don’t rely on grants and therefore can’t be blackmailed. Business owners create jobs and hold leverage. The ANC doesn’t like any of this. They want the certainty of an endlessly obedient population.
What South Africa needs it prosperity enabling policies and a government willing to pass them. What we need is politicians who don’t care about obedience or lining their own pockets, but only care about the prosperity and survival of our people.
Prosperity requires freedom; property rights, cheap and reliable electricity, safe streets, an independent judiciary and a competent and accountable civil service. Prosperity requires low barriers to hiring and firing, and a tax regime that rewards investment rather than punishes it. Prosperity requires rewarding wealth creation rather than stymying it.
The ANC does none of this. It desires serfdom, and it is only by the vibrancy and power of South Africa’s existing civil society and the will of its people that we’ve held the line for so long against complete authoritarian incompetency.
There is no fixing the ANC. If we want a future for all our children in this country, we need them to lose the elections and replace them with policy-makers who actually care about enriching their fellow South Africans – not enslaving them.
Nicholas Woode-Smith is a political analyst and author. He is the Managing Editor of the Rational Standard and a senior associate of the Free Market Foundation. He writes in his personal capacity.