Young People, this must NEVER be our future! In our country, the cement sector is dominated by 4 players (PPC, Alpha, Lafarge and Natal Portland). The construction sector is monopolised by four players: Murray & Roberts, WBHO, Aveng and Group 5, with foreign ownership. The Financial sector is dominated/monopolised by 4 large privately owned banks (Standard bank, Absa, FNB and Nedbank). Absa is 56% foreign owned, Standard Bank is at least 40% foreign owned. The Reserve Bank is privately owned and has foreign ownership. The pharmaceuticals sector is dominated by foreign owned companies: Aspen, Adcock-Ingram, Pfizer, Norvatis, etc, all have significant foreign ownership. SASOL is about 30% foreign owned and Arcelor-Mittal is 65% foreign owned. Telecommunications: The Thintana Telkom Deal in 1997 (Malaysians and Americans) which led to massive job losses in Telkom from 25 000 to 67 000, left our people poorer and in a worse socio-economic position. The wholesale and retail trade sector is a monopoly industry, dominated by two white owned firms: Shoprite and Pick n Pay, which constitute 66% of the market share. Massmart was 60% foreign owned even before Walmart, Shoprite is 35%, Truworths is 50%, Foschini is 40% and JD Group is 40% foreign owned. The state plays little to no role in this sector. The manufacturing sector declined from 20% of national production in 1995 to 11% of national production in 2013, providing evidence of de-industrialization. The policies of the past 19 years have failed to promote a labour intensive industrialization. In 2009 alone, we lost 1 million jobs in the whole country. As a result of large outflow of domestic resources, South Africas dependence on short-term capital flows to finance its expenditures has increased. There has been a rapid rise in South Africas foreign debt from $25 billion in 1994 to $132 billion in 2012 with relatively little increase in real productive investment in private sector. A study conducted in 2002 at UCT found that being African reduces the odds of being employed by 90% in comparison to being white. Estimates are that black people only own between 13% to 16% of agricultural land in South Africa, more than 101 years after the 1913 Land Act which dispossessed our people of our land. As the youth of this country, we have a responsibility to protect our future, we must be impatient with the slow pace of transformation & wealth redistribution and mobilize for intensified youth action towards the realization of economic freedom in our lifetime in line with the 7 cardinal pillars of economic freedom. As Karl Marx told us we, the Working class have nothing to lose but our chains. We have a world to win. Everything for the revolution and nothing against it! FIGHT - LEARN - PRODUCE! uTambo anga lila, anga lila uma esibona sinjena, anga lila
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 15:38:10 +0000