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The constant invocation of “radical economic transformation” shouldn’t worry businesspeople, said billionaire businessman Patrice Motsepe.
“I don’t think we should worry too much,” he told an audience of businesspeople at the launch of his new property joint venture, African Rainbow Capital Real Estate, in Sandton this week.
“The ANC leadership election is this year and we will hear these words. That terminology is aimed at a constituency, the one that feels ‘we’ve been held out, we’ve been held back’, so I am not so worried about that.”
He was responding to a question about the rising use of the phrase to characterise new promised economic policies.
Motsepe was participating in a panel discussion with his business partners from Buffet-KLT, a private property group.
The phrase has been heard many times over the past few months – most notably in President Jacob Zuma’s 2017 state of the nation address and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s budget speech.
Inequality, poverty, unemployment and concentration of wealth were driving the case for radical transformation and the government’s call for inclusive growth.
Gordhan said that income growth within South African society had been uneven, with the bottom 20% having benefited from social grants and better access to services while the top 20% had benefited from the rising demand skills and pay increases.
“Those in the middle have been left behind,” he added.
“Wealth remains highly concentrated – 95% of the wealth is in the hands of 10% of the population,” Gordhan said.
But Motsepe said he didn’t “get obsessed” with the word radical.
“There are members of the Communist Party, very communist in their theory, but even more capitalist than we are in their outlook and behaviour,” said Motsepe.
“Whether you call economic transformation radical or moderate or slow-paced, I think the recognition is that after 20 years of democracy we still have a challenge with bringing black people into the centre of the economy.”
Motsepe said that the challenge was not in relation to those upper income and successful black families, but the challenge was those children who came from poor families, who were getting an inferior education.
“Empowerment has to be for those poor families and poor kids who would need the leg up, the education,” said Motsepe.
“The heart of radical economic transformation must be to bring them to the centre, but in a manner that continues to ensure that entrepreneurs will be excited.
We have to feel that this is the best place for us to make money.”
Motsepe said that even if everyone in South Africa was green, if there weren’t black and white people, it would be important to let those green people who were poor and marginalised, “who are not as competitive and as ambitious and as driven and as successful as we are ... to give them opportunities – and it starts with education and entrepreneurship,” said Motsepe.
“In every capitalist society, and we are a free market economy, the bright and the smart and the hardworking will succeed.”
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