Skip to main content

Stabilising the urban push


I have had the most difficult time trying to understand the concept of radical economic transformation. What does it really mean and who is it really for?

I have read the documents and articles pertaining this transformation and what it really is about and who its beneficiaries are. Women and youth are the main beneficiaries of this concept, it is about radically elevating the process of sharing the economy with these groups and providing well needed support to the groups. 
It is a great concept in theory, but the implementation plan is lacking, there seems to be no clear plan of action by the current government of South Africa, as to how this radical economic transformation will be put into motion. My worry is that there seems to be old methods of economic transformation being used, these vehicles have been previously identified, but have benefited only a few. SEDA, ECDC, NYDA, IDZ’s and other government funding schemes are benefiting those who have access to the information, and only those who can process and understand the information.
Imagine you are a woman from the deep rural areas of Kantani (former Transkei), who is planting vegetables or fruits in your back yard to sell on the street side for small a profit, to make sure you have food on the table for your family?   Information of government and business funding are only in areas that need you to take a taxi to the nearest urbanized town or city , but even than you are not aware of the entities, because although they are advertised on the radio or TV, they still don’t make scenes to you.

I have always been confused as to how does government speak about rural development, when only those who go through the urban push, benefit and use those who remain in the rural areas as labourers. Then the government uses those people as stats of job creation, not mentioning that only a few reap the real rewards from these projects, and the rest get paid R1500 a month or less.

I have recently been introduced to a government funded youth entrepreneurship program, where the learners get to learn about business and receive a start-up fund to start their business. The students shared that their facilitators knew nothing about the material they were teaching and could not answer the questions they were asking, the worst part is that the program supervisor decided that he would place the learners in job experience positions; the only problem is that they knew nothing about the careers they were being placed in, and it had nothing to do with being entrepreneurs. The program supervisor did not pay the learners and could not be found, the government representative dealing with this case, seemed confused about the placement of learners, the material and the no payment.
What I am trying to show in this case study above, is the lack of involvement and monitoring by government on critical economic issues, such as who is teaching the youth entrepreneurship, who is following up to see that the is a real change, who is working with these kids and are these companies accredited and capable.

Radical economic transformation cannot be achieved, with limited access to information by the communities that are the intended beneficiaries. Government needs vehicles and methods that will go to rural area women and youth, that will give and explain what the government can do and needs to do. Traditional leaders need to be the biggest part of cooperate government, black suits, and white shirts, do not speak to rural community, the language of business must be simplified for these communities.

South Africa needs to start looking at practical ways to stabilise the urban push. The rural economy of the country needs to be the pillar of the economy.

There are young people who sell art and handmade crafts by the side of the road, products which could be exports from South Africa, that the world can buy, but local governments lack to embrace and empower these talents. 

So, what is the plan with radical economic transformation? How do the beneficiaries access information, who are the real beneficiaries, what role is local government playing in the implementation, is there a real road map or is it a political rhetoric to win votes?  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Balck Woman in Corporate

 While we fight for equal pay amongst women and men, we need to separate the category of women; there are black women, then there are white women. Within these categories, there are clear wage gaps and clear value of the one, over the other, with the other being black women. I have come to realise that white people do not realise their privilege and supremacy complex, there fake fading smiles when you walk past them, almost to say, “What are you doing in my space”. I don’t think they realise  that we can see right through those half baked smiles. There coldness and uninviting energy makes you self-aware and reminds you, that you are in the wrong place, this is not your space and as long as you can remember that, you will be okay. However white people are not the only problem black women face in corporate, black men also contribute to the demise of black women in the workplace. I worked for a company that was ran by black men and fell victim to the corporate abuse that b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dear Beautiful coconut black girl

It took time for us to realize that there was power in our skin colour, we grew up in towns and went to schools that did not value our skin tone or our languages. We grew up trying to emulate whiteness because our teachers and white schoolmates respected us more when we sounded like them and acted like they did. There was a desire to be like they are, to live like they did, our parents seemed to smile more when we spoke “perfect” English, their kids were like the white kids, they too could be at the same level as the white parents, sit in the same room at prize giving and have pictures of their kids in a classroom full of white kids and a white teacher. What was better than your child being like a white child? We are models of our parent’s dreams, we are the example of “freedom” for them. We too did not understand the enormous responsibility that was handed to us. This responsibility to prove that we have defeated the system, that the ANC government led by the former late ...
1 comment
Read more

She Is My Mother

4:00 am every morning she is up, she leaves the house at 5:00 am to open up shop at 6:00 am, when everyone else wakes up or when they leave the house. She has to make sure she is there early for those who too are early, she needs to make sure all her products are on display for the morning crowd. I wake at 6:00 am like the rest of the working class; I get ready for school, prepare my books and make porridge. I make my way out of the two-room tin house I share with my mother and two of my sisters. They too get ready the same time,  my sister and I  walk to the bus stop and make our way to Bryanston to school, while the other makes her way to Lonehill. Alex seems like a faraway reality from our school lives. We might not have much at home but no one knows it here, I have a new blazer and shoes, my old ones were getting smaller, I gave them to my sister. They were still in good condition, we have to make sure they are, we don’t know when we will afford to buy them again. M...
Post a Comment
Read more