It would be fair to say that many South Africans lost trust in JZ way back when, with his recent Gupta antics doing nothing to help rebuild those bridges.

Amongst his many refutable claims is one he likes to take for a walk pretty often – the claim that black South Africans own just 3% of South Africa’s economy.

Fin24 have looked into this, with Alec Hogg setting up the discussion as follows:

How President Jacob Zuma must long for the pre-Internet era. Back before the information age dawned, politicians were able to control the public perception. If the President simply said so, it became reality…

Take Zuma’s often repeated claim that black South Africans own just 3% of the economy – an intimation that “white capital” still dominates in the area where it matters.

That’s a claim that Cyril Ramaphosa is also prone to trotting out now and again.

Hogg then hands over to Dave Stewart, the Executive Director of the FW de Klerk Foundation, to pull the real punches:

…black South Africans control economic and fiscal policy; they control the state’s 35% share of the economy; they own the 10% represented by the informal sector, and according to the JSE they own a higher percentage of the stock market than whites.

Whites still control and own a disproportionate – but diminishing – share; but this should not be surprising when one considers that they built up many of the companies involved and that they represent a disproportionate share of the entrepreneurial and management skills in the 45+ manager/owner age group.

Mr Ramaphosa will find that capturing the economy is a little more difficult than capturing the state. Unlike the state, businesses have to produce value – or go bankrupt. This means that they must be run by the most competent people available, regardless of their race. The ANC should have learned this from its gross mismanagement of the parastatals – a significant part of the economy that it has already captured.

None of this ‘capture’ business is reconcilable with the Constitution.

The Constitution requires state institutions that are independent of improper political influence from any quarter – and that serve the people of South Africa equally, regardless of their political affiliation or race…

As Deputy President Ramaphosa should know, policies based on racial mobilisation – with the clear objective or harming the legitimate interests of any South Africans on the basis of their race – are unacceptable and unconstitutional. They would also erode any prospect of national unity and would lead to the destruction of economy and of our constitutional state.

Amidst the ensuing rubble there would be very little left for anyone to capture.

One wonders whether pieces like these will affect what JZ says behind the microphone. You wouldn’t bank on it…

[source:fin24]