It is Time to Turbocharge the Economy!

Dear Editor

The time for endless talk is over. South Africa’s economy is in crisis, and it is time for urgent action to fix our economy and create jobs.

Today, I launched the party’s six-point plan to turbocharge the economy. This bold, results-driven plan outlines a set of non-negotiable demands for reform which will kickstart our economy and set South Africa on a path to growth and jobs.

With GDP per capita having declined over the past 15 years, and unemployment remaining one of the highest in the world, we cannot afford to delay. Urgent action is needed to unleash our economy and reverse the effects of economic stagnation and declining investor confidence.

At the core of the plan is pressure on the ANC to accept urgent reforms, and a commitment from the DA to do all we can to dismantle three major legislative barriers to growth: the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, the Employment Equity Act, and the Expropriation Act.

While intended to advance transformation, these laws have increasingly served to entrench elite enrichment, deter investment, and block small businesses from accessing opportunities.

“The only empowerment South Africa needs is more jobs…” – Steenhuisen.

The DA proposes an inclusive alternative to the current framework of transformation, one that is based on need rather than race, and which unlocks opportunity for all South Africans, leaving no one behind.

The DA’s plan also calls for:

• Ensuring affordable and reliable energy to power the economy.
• Saving our network industries from collapse.
• Spending for growth.
• From dysfunctional to delivering municipalities.
• Arresting the crime epidemic.

These reforms will create an environment that encourages growth and lifts people out of poverty.

The DA will fight for these reforms in Cabinet, Parliament, and all spheres of government.

Unlike the National Dialogue, which will cost R700 million, the DA’s plan is free. The fact that others are now withdrawing from the National Dialogue shows what it is: an illegitimate talk shop.

South Africans do not need more dialogue. They need real delivery.

The DA will relentlessly use our influence inside the GNU and Parliament to push for these reforms. It is time for urgent action. We must create economic growth and jobs.

Regards

John Steenhuisen MP
Leader of the Democratic Alliance

DA Leader John Steenhuisen’s full remarks during a media conference in Johannesburg today:

Fellow South Africans, members of the media,

We are gathered today in the economic heart of our nation — Johannesburg. A city once known as the City of Gold, a place of ambition, innovation, and prosperity.

But today, Johannesburg stands as a symbol of South Africa’s crossroads.

• Our buildings are crumbling. Our roads are decaying.
• Our taps are dry.
• The people of Johannesburg, and South Africa are suffering.

Residents of the city, you know exactly what I am talking about. Why? Because of years of economic mismanagement, corruption, and outdated policies that have enriched the few and excluded the many.

And yet, out of this decay must rise a new path — one that restores growth, delivers jobs, and gives every South African a fair shot. That’s why the Democratic Alliance is here today — to launch our plan to turbocharge South Africa’s economy.

We need to remove the roadblocks to growth and build a superhighway to growth and prosperity.

Let me begin with a story of shattered dreams.

Every day people approach me and members of the DA with storiesof how they are cut out of the economy. These stories can berepresented by somebody whose name I will change, for purposes of this story, I will name him Kabelo, from Vosloorus.

Kabelo started a small logistics company with two trucks, ambition, and a dream. He believed hard work would be enough. But the system worked against him.

• No funding — because he lacked collateral.
• No tenders — because he had no political connections.
• No support — because BBBEE, in practice, has become a hurdle rather than a help, as business are forced to comply with onerous and costly criteria if they are to have full access to opportunities. In many cases achieving all criteria are beyond the available cash flow of SME’s making it hard for them to prosper, whilst large connected organizations continue to rake in the rewards.

The perverse incentive of BBBEE has become that large companies cut out all SME’s to inflate their own BEE credentials.

This is not just Kabelo’s story. It’s the story of millions of South Africans — locked out by a system that rewards the connected and punishes the rest.

Here’s the hard truth:

• Our economy is in the ICU.
• Over the last 15 years, GDP per capita has shrunk by 10%.
• Unemployment has climbed from 22% to nearly 33%.
• Add discouraged job seekers, and the real unemployment rate is over 43%.

And while the country bleeds, the ANC is going to spend R700 million on a National Dialogue — a talk shop with no action, no reform, no plan, and by the looks of things, dwindling support with the announcement of further withdrawals from major foundations in South Africa.

The DA announced our withdrawal from the National Dialogue weeks back. It is an illegitimate initiative that lacks credibility. Even former President Mbeki has now come to the same conclusion as the DA. We reject that wasteful distraction.

Today, we present real solutions, and we offer them free of charge to the ANC, so that the millions allocated for the national dialogue can instead be spent on services for the people of South Africa. The first order of business in our plan is to target three major roadblocks which are holding our economy back: BBBEE,

Employment Equity and the Expropriation Act.

BBBEE and racial quotas have failed, and together with expropriation without compensation, create an environment that deters investment, growth and job creation for the majority of South Africans.

This is the problem which Kabelo faces, and the reason why investors steer clear of South Africa. These policies are simply not fair. They don’t help the millions of South Africans – like Kabelo – who just need government to get out of the way.

These polices must go!

Let me be clear: The DA is not against transformation. But BBBEE has done nothing for ordinary South Africans.

The only way South Africa will transform is through fair, inclusive alternatives that can help lift poor South Africans out of poverty and onto the social mobility ladder. We need to free up the economy so that South Africans grow their own businesses, creating millions  of jobs in the process. The only empowerment South Africa needs is more jobs. With more jobs and a growing economy, many of our other problems will be solved.

Government must replace BBBEE and employment equity with policies that create opportunity based on need and merit, not race or connection.

Red tape must be slashed, and SMMEs freed from suffocating bureaucracy and crushing labour laws.

While ANC ministers sit on their hands, DA ministers have already started implementing much-needed reforms in their departments. They are all here today, and can speak more to this if required.

Second. Fix the energy crisis by breaking Eskom’s monopoly over electricity generation by creating a truly competitive energy market.

Introduce competition and investment into generation and distribution.

Ringfence municipal electricity revenue to maintain and reinvest in our crumbling infrastructure.

No more bailouts. No more blackouts.

Third. Repair and Modernise Rail, Ports, and Digital Infrastructure

Our ports are ranked among the worst in the world.

Government needs to urgently concession freight rail and port terminals, ending Transnet’s stranglehold.

South Africa must become a world-class export economy — not one where goods rot on the docks.

Fourth. Reform Public Spending towards Growth

Bailouts to State-Owned Entities have cost R310 billion. Enough is enough

Government needs to stabilise debt, cut waste, and root out ghost employees.

Public money must build infrastructure and provide frontline services, not bankroll incompetence.

Fifth. Fixing Local Government

Coalition chaos, corruption, and collapsed service delivery cannot continue.

We’re championing a new law to stabilise councils. This bill will set minimum thresholds for political parties to get a seat in Council. Government needs to ensure that they protect and reinvest revenue from services directly into infrastructure, while welcoming private sector participation in struggling municipalities.

Finally. Restore the Rule of Law

It is now urgent that government establish a new Anti-Corruption Commission – a Scorpions 2.0 to fight corruption.

Our Country is in need of a professional, well-equipped Police service that can effectively fight crime and make South Africans feel safe in their homes again.

Police corruption needs to be rooted out through lifestyle audits for senior police officials.

And rural crime needs to be tackled head-on through the implementation of the DA’s Rural Safety Plan, working together with community policing units.

These six interventions will build a superhighway to growth and prosperity.

They will create an economy where your surname doesn’t determine your future — where every South African can earn, build, and thrive.

This is not fantasy. This is what we’re already doing in the Western Cape, uMngeni, Midvaal, and every municipality where the DA governs.

In National Government, the DA has:

Blocked the ANC’s proposed 2% VAT increase
Reformed visa rules to boost tourism and attract skills
Opened new markets for agricultural exports
Accelerated infrastructure investment
Boosted safety in schools across South Africa
Grown jobs in the green economy
And started the process of increasing broadband internet access by easing the stringent BEE requirements in the ICT sector.

We are just getting started. There is so much that still needs to be done.

But this plan must become more than a promise. It must become a fight.

A fight for growth.
A fight for jobs.
A fight for Kabelo — and for every South African like him.

That’s why I will table this plan in Cabinet, and insist on support from the President for these urgent reforms.

We will demand urgent implementation.

We will bring it to Parliament, where the real national dialogue belongs.

And where we govern, we will deliver it — piece by piece, policy by policy.

South Africa doesn’t need more talk. It needs Action. It needs the ANC to set aside their ideologies, and instead work with the DA to focus on the economy.

A course change. A government that gets things done.

So I ask you:

Do you want clean water in your taps?
Roads that work?
Electricity you can rely on?
Jobs for your children?

Then this is your plan. And the DA is your party.

The time for dialogue is over.

It’s time for action.

Let’s turbocharge the South African economy — together.

Thank you