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Experts differ on whether South Africans just accept things: UFS panel discussion

18 July 2023 | Story André Damons and Samkelo Fetile | Photo Stephen Collett

UFS Thought-Leader Series — The 2023 Thought-Leader Panel. From left: Prof Bonang Mohale, Dr Lindie Koorts, Prof Francis Petersen, Dr Sipho Pityana and Prof Piet Croucamp.

Panelists at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Thought-Leader Panel discussion disagreed whether South Africa has a culture of acceptance, with one panelist claiming “it is absolute nonsense”.

Prof Piet Croucamp, who teaches politics at the North-West University (NWU), answered the question whether South Africans just accept things as if they were normal because they do not know anything different with a frank: “It is absolute nonsense”.

Prof Croucamp was one of four panelists who took part in the panel discussion titled: “A Culture of Acceptance – South Africa’s Greatest Threat?” as part of the 2023 Thought-Leader Series on Thursday (13 July 2023). The other panelists were Prof Bonang Mohale, President: Business Unity South Africa and UFS Chancellor; Dr Sipho Pityana, Founder and Chairman: Izingwe Capital; and Dr Lindie Koorts, Research Fellow: International Studies Group (ISG), UFS.

Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal, was the facilitator.

Biggest motion of no confidence

Prof Croucamp said only 47% of registered voters turned up to vote during the 2021 elections and only 12% of eligible voters voted for the ANC, while 88% voted for other political parties or stayed away.

“The reason why the ANC dipped below 50% is because people stayed away and by staying away, they were saying something. They were saying ‘we have lost confidence in this particular system’, but more so in this political party. It is the biggest motion of no confidence that I have seen in this country.

“Only 12% could identify with that narrative. So do not tell me people are passive and have nothing to say and that they have just accepted things. It is simply not true,” Prof Croucamp said.

According to him, black entrepreneurs who have benefited from black economic empowerment and who operate mostly in the informal economy, are responsible for the recent burning of trucks. They are now seeking to enter the value chain of the formal economy, in this case, the logistics economy.

“They compete with each other through the use of violence. Bheki Cele (minister of police) said the burning of trucks is business-related and I agree with him. It spilled over from the mining industry in Mpumalanga. These are economically empowered entrepreneurs who use violence and crime as a way to establish themselves in the value chain. Do not for one moment believe it has something to do with the violence of July 2021.”

Culture of acceptance

Prof Mohale said the timing of the recent truck burnings is interesting because it happened on the second anniversary of the violence that occurred in July 2021. These attacks on the trucks are clearly coordinated. By Thursday morning (13 July this week) 21 trucks had been burned. There is no way this was spontaneous, he said.

“The timing is important. Look at the data; from 9 July 2021 – two weeks which are referred loosely to as a failed insurrection with rampant looting – Minister Bheki Cele at that time talked about the “Dirty Dozen” because 12 people were identified as responsible and he said they would be arrested soon.

“Yesterday (Wednesday 12 July) he tells us about the Dirty Dozen again. Look how easily we accept this number. The same way that we accepted a report in 2003 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which said those people who did not get full amnesty because they did not disclose must be charged. Twenty years later nobody has been charged,” said Prof Mohale.

According to him, there is a culture of acceptance of everything we are promised. We are told they were going to do “A”. Nothing is done and there are no consequences.

The two weeks in July 2021 are important, he said. There were two components, part of it was highly organised and orchestrated via WhatsApp messages. Then the other half was spontaneous.

“Look at the economic consequences.” They were not helping black people but were plunging them further into poverty. More than 350 people were killed and 200 malls burned and 5 000 businesses destroyed. Some 40 000 jobs were put at risk, eight warehouses and 11 factories were gutted and 1 400 ATMs were destroyed and R160 million was stolen. More than 1.5 million rounds of ammunition were stolen which later found their way to cash-in-transit robberies, Prof Mohale said.

Constitution an empowering tool in the hands of citizens

Dr Pityana said the most urgent threat facing this country today, is that of becoming a failed state and the acceleration towards that failure. The questions that citizens have to ask is what can be done to stem that acceleration?

“My reference point when I think about this nation is the constitution because the constitution is a fantastic tool in the hands of each and every citizen. It is a very empowering tool. There are two things we did when we adopted the constitution; two very important pieces of legislation were passed. The first was the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act. The next is the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).

“The constitution enjoins us to drive a value-based society. A value-based society as distinct from a majoritarian society. The importance of that, is that it is a tool that is about saying to each and every one of us as South Africans what is the vision of the country that we want to build. The value of the constitution is that we must build an inclusive society and it does not matter what our station is. For as long as there is a poor person somewhere, we are exclusive. For as long as there is somebody somewhere who feels they do not belong, they do not have access to health, education, they do not have access to a range of things, it is not good enough to say that at least I get it,” said Dr Pityana.

Elites feeding off the people

Dr Koorts, who often writes on the links between current affairs and history, agreed with Prof Croucamp that the stay-away vote was a huge vote of no confidence in the ANC. But, she continued, it is keeping the country where it is. The ANC suffers from what she calls the “broad-church disease”.

“We need transition. Does the answer lie with our opposition parties? I would say they suffer from the same ‘broad-church disease’, unfortunately, because you trying to find as many votes as possible and you accommodate as many as possible, which is very laudable. But again, contradictory forces mean you are not getting anywhere. Unfortunately, if there's one party that does not suffer from broad-church disease, I would say it’s EFF who really know what they stand for,” Dr Koorts said.

She also said elites are feeding off the people because people are doing things for themselves.

“If people are doing things for themselves, for example, fixing potholes themselves – great, that money can be pocketed. Getting refuse to the dumps by ourselves, more money to be pocketed, solar panels, water tanks, etc. But tax collection does not stop. You have an elite feeding off people. ‘Do-it-yourself’ cannot go without accountability. Because otherwise you will just be doing more and more for yourself”.

Watch the series below:

News Archive

Inaugural lecture: Prof. Phillipe Burger

2007-11-26

Attending the lecture were, from the left: Prof. Tienie Crous (Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the UFS), Prof. Phillipe Burger (Departmental Chairperson of the Department of Economics at the UFS), and Prof. Frederick Fourie (Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS).
Photo: Stephen Collet

A summary of an inaugural lecture presented by Prof. Phillipe Burger on the topic: “The ups and downs of the South African Economy: Rough seas or smooth sailing?”

South African business cycle shows reduction in volatility

Better monetary policy and improvements in the financial sector that place less liquidity constraints on individuals is one of the main reasons for the reduction in the volatility of the South African economy. The improvement in access to the financial sector also enables individuals to manage their debt better.

These are some of the findings in an analysis on the volatility of the South African business cycle done by Prof. Philippe Burger, Departmental Chairperson of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Economics.

Prof. Burger delivered his inaugural lecture last night (22 November 2007) on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein on the topic “The ups and downs of the South African Economy: Rough seas or smooth sailing?”

In his lecture, Prof. Burger emphasised a few key aspects of the South African business cycle and indicated how it changed during the periods 1960-1976, 1976-1994 en 1994-2006.

With the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as an indicator of the business cycle, the analysis identified the variables that showed the highest correlation with the GDP. During the periods 1976-1994 and 1994-2006, these included durable consumption, manufacturing investment, private sector investment, as well as investment in machinery and non-residential buildings. Other variables that also show a high correlation with the GDP are imports, non-durable consumption, investment in the financial services sector, investment by general government, as well as investment in residential buildings.

Prof. Burger’s analysis also shows that changes in durable consumption, investment in the manufacturing sector, investment in the private sector, as well as investment in non-residential buildings preceded changes in the GDP. If changes in a variable such as durable consumption precede changes in the GDP, it is an indication that durable consumption is one of the drivers of the business cycle. The up or down swing of durable consumption may, in other words, just as well contribute to an up or down swing in the business cycle.

A surprising finding of the analysis is the particularly strong role durable consumption has played in the business cycle since 1994. This finding is especially surprising due to the fact that durable consumption only constitutes about 12% of the total household consumption.

A further surprising finding is the particularly small role exports have been playing since 1960 as a driver of the business cycle. In South Africa it is still generally accepted that exports are one of the most important drivers of the business cycle. It is generally accepted that, should the business cycles of South Africa’s most important trade partners show an upward phase; these partners will purchase more from South Africa. This increase in exports will contribute to the South African economy moving upward. Prof. Burger’s analyses shows, however, that exports have generally never fulfil this role.

Over and above the identification of the drivers of the South African business cycle, Prof. Burger’s analysis also investigated the volatility of the business cycle.

When the periods 1976-1994 and 1994-2006 are compared, the analysis shows that the volatility of the business cycle has reduced since 1994 with more than half. The reduction in volatility can be traced to the reduction in the volatility of household consumption (especially durables and services), as well as a reduction in the volatility of investment in machinery, non-residential buildings and transport equipment. The last three coincide with the general reduction in the volatility of investment in the manufacturing sector. Investment in sectors such as electricity and transport (not to be confused with investment in transport equipment by various sectors) which are strongly dominated by the government, did not contribute to the decrease in volatility.

In his analysis, Prof. Burger supplies reasons for the reduction in volatility. One of the explanations is the reduction in the shocks affecting the economy – especially in the South African context. Another explanation is the application of an improved monetary policy by the South African Reserve Bank since the mid 1990’s. A third explanation is the better access to liquidity and credit since the mid 1990’s, which enables the better management of household finance and the absorption of financial shocks.

A further reason which contributed to the reduction in volatility in countries such as the United States of America’s business cycle is better inventory management. While the volatility of inventory in South Africa has also reduced there is, according to Prof. Burger, little proof that better inventory management contributed to the reduction in volatility of the GDP.

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