Learning the Hard Way:
A New South Africa Falls Hostage to a Globalising Economy
By Gabriel Neville
Compared to the disastrous, racially-based social and economic engineering under the apartheid regime, the New South Africa is characterised by a general spirit of freedom. There is greater access to decision-making processes, a respect for diversity, protection of those who were previously marginalised and excluded, increased opportunities for women in public life, and a sound legal framework to achieve a just society through effective participation in the exercise of public power. However, the very notion of a “new” South Africa is now being seriously undermined. It has been eroded by social and economic policies related to “market liberalisation” on the one hand, and “social austerity” on the other, that are driven by powerful foreign and domestic forces. These policies are presented as inevitable.
Such “market” fatalism in the face of the massive backlog of social problems inherited from apartheid breeds disempowerment, disillusion, and despair. It has led to massive joblessness, deepening poverty, spiraling inequality, crises in health care and education, the social dislocation of many young people, an inability to effectively respond to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and general social insecurity. This is manifested in increased levels of violent crime, heightened xenophobia, greater incidence of sexual abuse, high levels of alcohol and drug addiction, and the general decay of the socio-moral fibre of society.
These social and economic policies have further eroded both confidence and participation in the effective exercise of public power. The majority of people now feel alienated from the social and economic polity; they feel they do not have any control over their own lives.
The state seems to be characterised by a certain impotence in addressing the need for transformation in favour of the poor. Social and economic policies built on market fundamentalism represent are incapable to effectively deliver social services to those who need them most. This model of social development fails to answer the needs of our society today. Structural adjustment mechanisms such as the privatisation of basic services turn citizens into clients and undermines the very basis of our social organisation.
The values that underlie market fundamentalism such as wealth creation through the maximisation of profit, unrestricted competition, personal accumulation of wealth, and self-regulation further exacerbate our social problems. They lead to the abuse of public power for personal or sectarian gain rather than the effective exercise of public power in the interests of the common good, and individualistic self-promotion rather than the promotion of social solidarity. “Value” itself is understood to be measured solely in economic terms, with a corresponding devaluation of the human person and the environment.
The way in which the local church has expressed the Christian faith has all too often not addressed the causes of such social problems. It has, in fact, often supported and contributed to them. We are now challenged to make a concerted effort to participate in overcoming the problems that face us as a society through effective social development.
Effective social development must be based on human development in all its facets. It must ensure human security and participation, at once as a means and as an end to full human development. Participation is about citizens and communities actively participating in and sharing the social, economic, and political goods of our society. Economic participation, which includes having a secure job, is about expressing our creative nature through labour and production and accessing the means to live a secure life. Political participation, which goes beyond casting a vote once every few years, is about the exercise of personal and public power in determining what kind of social organisation should be promoted and protected. Social participation is about personal, cultural, and religious self-expression that imbues us with a sense of identity, belonging, and self-transcendence.
Integrated human development is built through participation, not by undermining participation in any of its economic, political, and social dimensions. Our current situation demands a revision of our economic and social policies towards people-centred, participatory models that give priority to addressing the needs of the poor.
Neville Gabriel is Secretary for Economic Justice of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference and National Secretary of Jubilee 2000
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