Local economy is in crisis: Mbeki

Former President Thabo Mbeki says the local economy is in crisis as it is failing to grow and create much-needed jobs.

Mbeki was speaking during a lecture in honour of Chief Nkosi Albert Luthuli on the 60th Anniversary of his receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mbeki weighs in on unemployment in SA:

Mbeki says that the country continues to experience high levels of unemployment under the ANC. He says a number of measures aimed to address the imbalance between the rich and poor are failing.

He emphasized that 90% of the country’s population controls only 20% of the country’s wealth. He condemned those who use state resources to enrich themselves and says that the unemployment rate has grown sharply.

“This means that the millions of the unemployed have continued to grow in number and this reflects an economy in crisis.”

Economists say that the widening gap between the rich and the poor is a big concern.

Professor Jannie Rossouw at the Wits Business School says, “It is particularly important that he mentioned that unemployment became worse under the ANC and this is because of too much control by the governing party and corruption and the real problem is that people see the ANC as an opportunity to enrich themselves.”

Mbeki has endorsed the recent article by Former Deputy Finance Minister, Mcebisi Jonas, that Africa’s main goal should be to promote economic growth and development, good governance and poverty alleviation.