‘Radical economic transformation’ even has the reserve bank governor puzzled

“Radical economic transformation” has recently come to the fore as President Jacob Zuma and his supporters push for the implementation of the concept, however, it has left SA Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago as well as former president Kgalema Motlanthe questioning what it means.

In an extensive interview with the Sunday Times, Motlanthe had reportedly said he felt uneasy that the ANC members and businesses that called for this concept had not defined what they meant and further questioned what the motives for it were.

Now, the Sunday Times reports that Kganyago also said he did not understand what the term meant, even after reading through literature, but that the closest concept he could relate it to was a term that became known in the aftermath of 2008’s global economic crisis. He reportedly said the concept was often used to question how income, land and capital were distributed; ownership structures and corporate governance. He said this was called “inclusive growth” elsewhere in the world, and questioned why the concept was complicated in South Africa.

Kganyago reportedly said these remarks when asked about the meaning of “radical economic transformation” while speaking as a guest at a public lecture on monetary policy at the Westville Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Earlier this month, Zuma had said he would spend the remainder of his term firmly focused on radical socioeconomic transformation because transforming the South Africa’s economy had not achieved the desired effect, a report by the African News Agency had said.

– Caxton News Service