Letter in FM, 28/9/12

Your article on industrial policy, "Bound by Heavy Chains “ refers.  The Soviets and a little later, Chairman Mao ,were always obsessed by heavy industry, seeing it as the real heart of manufacturing and as a reflection of state power. One of the other  legacies in both areas was and is ecological devastation not   yet  seen on a similar scale anywhere else in the world. Ultimately, this fixation helped cause the demise of the Soviet bloc, a collapse only averted in China by Deng Xiao Peng’s sweeping, consumer oriented market  economy ( i.e. quasi-capitalist)reforms.

This legacy lives on in the zeitgeist afflicting the first generation of post apartheid planners at senior levels in government, despite policies that profess to achieve the ooposite. The New Growth Path has precious little to say about SMEs and other job intensive sectors that need state support where necessary, which are where the jobs are. But under trade and industry minister Davies and  economic develoment minister Ebrahim Patel, expect no deviation from past  dead orthodoxies under a leaderless ANC government .

No, things look like they will have to get a lot worse before they start getting better. The question is whether the institutions that sustain our new democracy can withstand the strain they are being increasingly placed under before the new brooms arrive to sweep clean.

Dr Gavin Lewis

DA MPL Gauteng Legislature
Spokesman: Economic Development