The South African Communist Party (SACP) has launched a searing critique of the government’s proposed new economic framework, labelling it the “Same aGAIN” strategy and warning it will perpetuate the unemployment, poverty, and inequality that have become hallmarks of the post-apartheid economy.
In a statement issued after a recent Politburo meeting, the SACP, a nominal member of the ruling governing alliance, argued that the leaked Growth and Inclusion (GAIN) strategy represents a continuation of the neoliberal policies adopted since 1996. The party claims these policies have primarily served the interests of international finance capital and a domestic capitalist elite at the expense of the working-class majority.
Mounting discontent
The intervention highlights the profound ideological fractures within South Africa’s government and underscores the mounting discontent with economic policies that have failed to dismantle one of the world’s most starkly unequal societies. With an official unemployment rate of 33.2%, affecting 8.4 million people, the SACP argues that tinkering within the same economic paradigm is a recipe for continued social crisis.
“Far from being transformative, the GAIN strategy reproduces the same old economic framework,” the Politburo stated. “It is the same as before, merely repackaged and rebranded. Hence the SACP’s description of the GAIN strategy as the ‘Same aGAIN’.”
The party’s critique focuses on what it sees as the strategy’s core failings. These are a commitment to fiscal consolidation, which it equates with austerity. An accelerated push for privatisation in key network industries like energy and logistics. And an unchanged monetary policy mandate for the South African Reserve Bank that prioritises inflation targeting over mass employment.
“Austerity has created a vicious cycle in which expenditure cuts suppress growth. Slower growth reduces revenue, and declining revenue leads to further cuts,” the statement read. This cycle, the party argues, has trapped the economy in stagnation. It has also deepened the suffering of the working class and the impoverished.
Job-seekers’ grant
The SACP saved particular scorn for a proposal to link the Social Relief of Distress Grant to employment-seeking activities. This grant is a vital lifeline for millions of South Africans with no other income. The party called the idea “both irrational and unjust”. It argues that it “punishes the unemployed for an economic crisis they did not create”. And in an economy that simply does not generate enough jobs.
“The economy has not been generating employment on any meaningful scale to overcome the unemployment crisis,” the statement noted. It pointed to graduate unemployment of 12.2% as evidence of a structural, not individual, failure.
Break from neo-liberalism
The SACP’s alternative call is for a “revolutionary break” from neoliberalism. It advocates for an expansionary fiscal policy to finance public infrastructure. A central bank mandate focused on industrialisation and employment. And the strengthening of state ownership under democratic control.
“The economy must serve the people. And to do so it must be transformed to become the people’s economy,” the Politburo asserted. It channelled the language of the historic Freedom Charter.
The statement also covered international issues. It condemns United States “imperialist” aggression towards Venezuela, labelling Israeli actions in Gaza a “genocide”. And it reiterated solidarity with Cuba, Western Sahara, and pro-democracy activists in Swaziland.
