When a Socialist Experiences a Damascus Moment

The challenge for us liberals is to spread this message far and wide and show people what socialists work tirelessly to obscure: that the market is dynamic and will never bend to their utopian designs

I was pleasantly surprised to see a post by Phaphano Phasha this past week on Facebook that linked South Africa’s high unemployment rate to our rigid labour laws, which saddle businesses with high compliance costs. Phaphano is a well-known socialist who has built a public-facing brand through her political commentary.

In the same post, she went further and pointed to China as an example of a state that used its massive pool of low-cost labour to industrialise and turn itself into the factory of the world before wages eventually rose alongside economic growth. Unsurprisingly, this angered many of her socialist followers, who tried to either lecture or reprimand her for farming engagement. I must admit that the aversion to the truth she expressed was something I found amusing.

Phaphano’s case is a useful one because it shows that even staunch socialists can be jolted back to reality when it hits them in the face and pulls them out of the ideological bubble that they live in, which is far removed from the lives of the millions of poor people they claim to represent.

Phaphano now knows that the idea of China as a successful model of socialism is balderdash that is peddled by socialists who have no grasp of reality and who cultivate blind faith in their hopeless ideology. She has come to see that China’s rise was driven by free-market reforms, despite all the socialist propaganda it fed the world. She has also begun to appreciate the enormous sacrifice Chinese society had to endure before the economy grew and living standards improved.

She now understands the plight of a township youth who is willing to work for less than the government’s paternalistically imposed minimum wage. For this young person, a low wage is no ideal, but it is far better than sitting at home or loitering on the streets with no plan. It is the entry into the labour market that builds a person’s skills and bargaining power and eventually opens the door to higher wages.

Phaphano also recognises the difficult position small businesses face when they are forced to shut down or retrench workers because they cannot meet the state’s compliance costs. She understands, too, how many potential businesses never even get off the ground because of the endless hurdles that must be cleared before operations can begin.

In short, Phaphano has finally grasped reality and is trying to share it with the world. Her problem is that she will never persuade all the socialists around her who pose as labour policy “experts” without ever having run a business - not even a spaza shop.

Still, the fact that she is saying these things is good. It’s a reminder that common sense can prevail in people you’d least expect. The trouble is that Phaphano is just one voice in a population of millions.

The challenge for us liberals is to spread this message far and wide and show people what socialists work tirelessly to obscure: that the market is dynamic and will never bend to their utopian designs.

This isn’t easy, and if we’re honest, we’ve failed so far. Socialists dominate the discourse and have mastered the art of pushing their message across the world. But we must keep trying, because South Africa’s prosperity depends on our ability to push through labour reforms.

This country will only flourish when businesses, which are the real drivers of job creation, are free to operate without being strangled by red tape. And it will only prosper when individuals are free to determine their own economic futures.

Ayanda Sakhile Zulu holds a BSocSci in Political Studies from the University of Pretoria and is an intern at the Free Market Foundation.