Six Years of Neoliberal Socioeconomic Policies in South Africa

Abstract

This article emphasizes the shortcomings of government plans for growth and redistribution in South Africa. The paper suggests that only the organized efforts of the poor can tilt the scales and impose on the state a different development agenda, based on the need to promote the interests of the poor. After analyzing the government’s Growth, Employment, and Redistribution Strategy (GEAR), the paper indicates the continued importance of the political role traditionally assumed by the trade union movement in South Africa. Efforts to resist privatization, wage moderation, electricity cuts, and unsatisfactory land reform progress, while at present are isolated and uncoordinated, may provide an answer to unsatisfactory progress in societal change.