By Johnathan Paoli
Democratic Alliance shadow minister of finance Dion George has highlighted poor policy decisions, rampant corruption, and a focus on centralising power as some of the key characteristics of the African National Congress (ANC)’s rule over the last three decades.
George was joined by the party’s shadow deputy minister of finance Ashor Sarupen and shadow minister of social development Bridget Masango at the party headquarters in Bruma, Johannesburg on Thursday where they unveilled the DA’s Misery Index – a report on what the DA has called the failures of the ruling party.
The Misery Index is a statistical tool that tracks the economic distress felt by everyday people due to the risk of or actual joblessness combined with the ever-increasing cost of living, amongst other things.
“The ANC government obscures the true extent of the economic hardship faced by South Africans. The Misery Index cuts through the confusion. It provides a clear and visual representation of the economic pain felt by millions,” George said.
The index includes eight standardised components, namely unemployment, inflation, GDP per capita, prime lending rate, the Rand’s depreciation, debt-to-GDP ratio, and fuel and electricity tariffs.
In terms of unemployment, the report indicated that SA has one of the highest rates in the world, with 41%, while 7 out of every 10 young people faced the indignity of not securing a job.
The report found that despite the South African Reserve Bank’s effort to contain upward spiraling living costs, top-down statistic economic policies have caused what it claims as the most profound cost-of-living crisis the country has ever faced.
The country’s GDP per capita has decreased significantly since its peak in 2011, and that South Africans are on average poorer today than they were in 2008.
According to the Index, the prime banking lending rate in the country has remained notably high, which exacerbated the cost of credit and placed and additional burden on both households and businesses with higher interest expenses.
“Within the last 15 years, the ANC’s mismanagement of our economy and alliances with maligned foreign actors, such as Iran and Russia, deteriorated investor sentiment to the extent that the Rand lost up to 188% of its purchasing power against the US dollar,” the report found in relation to the currency depreciation.
It found that the ruling party has increased the country’s public debt tenfold within the last 15 years, with the current national debt standing at R5.2 trillion.
In terms of fuel and electricity, the report found that fuel prices in the country have increased by 233%, and electricity prices by 592% since 2008.
In summary, the index reported a considerable increase in the economic distress experienced by people in the country under the six ANC administrations, with a specific acceleration under President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“The ANC may tell citizens that they are better off than before and should be grateful for the current conditions. This narrative misleads and trivialises the genuine hardships faced by South Africans,” the report read.
The party said that the report demonstrated the moral failure of the ANC in acknowledging the crisis the country is going through.
George said only the DA can attract the necessary foreign capital, encourage domestic savings, change the model for state-owned enterprises, fix the infrastructure.
He said his party remained the only one capable of fixing the country’s crumbling infrastructure, enhance labour market participation, bolster corruption-busting institutions, and facilitate the expansion of both the small and large business sectors.
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