Freedom you can use
The IDP would have no bearing on the lives of people if we do not attempt to erase the scourge of fraud and corruption in our Municipalities.
• Randwest Constituency Chairperson Jacques Julius writes:
Once again we celebrated Freedom day. This with a few days before we celebrated Workers day. We commemorate nineteen years of freedom in a democratic South Africa.
I would love not to emphasise the same rhetoric of every year when assessing the gains made by our freedom.
I am thus forced to revisit my approach to that of economic freedom – a Freedom we can use.
For us to realise the goal of economic freedom, we need to pay attention to economic development.
The first question we thus need to ask when assessing our economic freedom is what efforts (if any) did we make to economically develop the people of the West Rand Region?
We can also assess our approach to economic freedom.
Economic development can be defined as sustained and concerted actions of policymakers and communities that are aimed at promoting the standard of living and economic health of a specific area.
Economic development also include multiple areas such as the development of human capital, critical infrastructure, regional competitiveness, environmental sustainability, social inclusion, health, safety, literacy, skills development amongst other things.
Upon further investigation, a concerted effort would mean that involving a lot of people and organisations working together in a determined way.
We thus have the criteria for economic development: it should be sustainable efforts by communities and organisations determined to change the lives of the people of a specific area.
The immediate question that arises is whether municipalities are on the right track in planning to positively change the lives of people in a specific area?
People are given state grants and food parcels to help them cope with the satisfaction of their daily needs.
Grants are good when you get it, but it is not sustainable.
People cannot stay on the same level for years; something needs to be done urgently to empower our people to be economically active to change their own lives.
The only way, in my own opinion, is to make concerted efforts to develop our economy in a sustained manner.
Where are the factories, training centres, business schools etc. in the West Rand?
We have come at a time where we no longer can procrastinate.
We need to take charge of the situation in a very urgent and determined way.
If more and more people are receiving grants, it is evident that we are moving in the wrong direction.
People should be given the opportunity to actively participate in the economy and better their own lives.
This dependency on government grants may be seen as a cover up for the lack of the creation of opportunities but also a way of securing votes to the very same imposers of it – the ANC. On the other hand, we have more people that are not able to pay taxes and their municipal accounts.
Government will have less money and municipalities are even worst affected. What services can we expect in the longer term?
It is at the backdrop of these multiple issues relating to economic development that I would propose that more focus should be placed in IDP`s to address these concerns.
One way to achieve this would be to redirect the focus of IDP`s from a situation of misdirected goals to a compliance towards a clear definition of economic development.
What we need is to measure existing IDP`s against this clearly defined definition of economic development where all the areas of economic development is addressed.
It would be very naïve to propose a better way of operating without acknowledging and addressing the negative influence of fraud, corruption and other social ills on attaining these goals.
The IDP would have no bearing on the lives of people if we do not attempt to erase the scourge of fraud and corruption in our Municipalities. Better tightened systems should be put in place to avoid fraud and corruption in Municipalities.
Unless local Municipalities do not focus on concerted and determined efforts to change the lives of people in a sustainable manner, we will never be able to positively change the lives of our people and this is precisely the mandate that we asked for.
What freedom do we enjoy without opportunities? Is this a freedom that is useful to us?
We need a freedom that will emancipate our people from poverty and the lack opportunities.
This is a freedom we can use!
Letter published unedited — Editor.
