Developing and protecting agriculture-related industries will be crucial to creating jobs and achieving a just new order.
An integrated land reform model for SA would safeguard commercial agriculture and would develop black farmers already farming as well as agriculture-related manufacturing, infrastructure and skills.
Given the fact that the ever-growing population of the world needs food, agriculture-led manufacturing, which can absorb millions of unskilled and low-skilled black South Africans, is the best strategic option for SA to create jobs, reduce poverty and lift growth levels.
Land reform done for ideological, populist or revenge reasons will collapse the structure of the economy, as it did in Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Algeria, all of which had to seek a foreign bailouts after their economies collapsed following failed land reforms.
Crucially, land reform has to be conducted under the rule of law. If it is not, it could collapse the rule of law across wider society.Aspects of land reform have already been captured —there have been incidents where farmers have been forced to transfer farms to “political farmers”, politically connected leaders masquerading as black farmers.On other occasions local strongmen, gangsters and vigilantes have organised themselves as black “farmers” and pressed fearful white farmers to hand over land to them.
Land reform must fit within a long-term industrialisation strategy, bring new technology, diversify production and expand institutions supporting the agriculture value chain.
It must also be done in a way that protects food security, by retaining the existing competitive agriculture sector and making blacks who are already farming — whether informal, small-scale or emerging farmers — more efficient, diversified and export competitive.
Land reform must revitalise rural economies, not only by diversifying farm products but by fostering agricultural manufacturing, processing and technology related to farm products and developing specialist vocational and higher education that will add relevant skills to the sector.
In pre-apartheid and pre-colonial times most African cultures’ sense of self and communal belonging were integrally woven into land ownership. The first crime of colonialism and apartheid was the removal of Africans from the land.
Land was expropriated from blacks without compensation during colonialism and apartheid. Because of the existential, deeply emotional and cathartic imperative of land reform, policies could therefore easily be driven by populism, sloganeering and short-termism.
Algeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, the three left-populist African governments that after independence pursued populist land reform without compensation, plunged their countries into mass starvation, crashed their currencies and caused mass foreign and local investor flight, depleting human capital and policy credibility, with consequences they have for decades struggled to reverse.
An integrated model of land reform would have 12 strategic pillars:
President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC government must take a strong position in public for pragmatic land reform, to counter calls for land expropriation without compensation purely for self-enrichment, opportunism and criminality.The ANC government must also firmly clamp down on opportunistic land grabs mushrooming across the country to restore order, the rule of law and peace.
Land redistribution must be pragmatic. The government must ring-fence commercial agriculture to keep the country food self-sufficient, and retain current agricultural jobs, high-grade farming skills and export income. Commercially viable farms in white hands should ideally be left untouched. Legitimate farm employees who are active in agriculture could be given shareholder options and profit-sharing and, of course, be treated with dignity.
The government must target the 5-million active black farmers for upliftment: provide them with cheaper finance, commercial skills and access to markets. Black farmers should be made more efficient and produce more diversified products that local and global markets need to allow them to become export competitive.Black farmers must get access to the supply chains of the public sector, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the private sector, such as large retailers.The government must use its foreign policy to open up markets in Africa and the developing world for the produce of black farmers.
Communal land must be immediately transferred to individual households. Communal land under the control of traditional leaders, chiefs and kings rather than individual owners is one of the biggest obstacles to development, equality and economic growth in SA and Africa.The communal land system locks the majority of Africans into poverty, undermines their individual entrepreneurial spirit and makes them subservient to often tyrannical traditional leaders and kings.
Black farmers can pool into co-operatives to collectively access training, new productive methods and markets. However, as experience shows, attempting co-operatives on communal land has largely failed in Africa and is likely to fail in SA too. The basic condition for agricultural co-operatives to work is to hand over communal land to individual farmers who can then organise themselves into co-operatives.State land, whether under the control of SOEs, municipalities or provinces, should be made available to black farmers already active in farming, not given to political farmers.
Government will need to restart the social housing build programme, which has now come to a virtual standstill. A strategic national infrastructure strategy that links employment, manufacturing and skills development to housing delivery is crucial to effective land reform.
Such a housing construction-led infrastructure programme must be done in partnership with private sector construction companies, which would also be a way to rescue the remaining construction companies — and the skills, technology and jobs they contain — that have failed largely because of government corruption, inefficiency and incompetence.
SA will need to foster a manufacturing sector out of agriculture, focusing on new products the global market needs, agricultural processing and beneficiation. Some small towns must be turned into agribusiness towns where products can be processed and beneficiated.
Land reform is complicated. It therefore needs a competent public sector to manage it. The agricultural and rural development government institutions, SOEs and lending institutions must be cleaned up, made more efficient and less corrupt.Right now, corrupt, ineffective and patronage-based agricultural and rural government departments and SOEs, whether local, provincial or national, are an obstacle to effective land reform. Appointments in these public institutions must be based on merit rather than patronage.
Educational, research and technology institutions in the agricultural value chain will also have to be cleaned up, better resourced and aligned to agriculture industrialisation.Agriculture-based vocational educational institutions that provide relevant technical training should be set up by governments, businesses and farmers. The best black empowerment would transfer relevant skills to adults, provide quality education for children and quality housing. Government and white farmers should co-operate to transfer skills and provide quality education to adult farmworkers and children.
White individual farmers, agricultural companies and the private sector will have to be more proactive. They can mentor, partner with and share markets with black farmers.White farmers must also create a social pact with their employees in which they provide housing, skills and profit-sharing. Such social pacts at the farm level will better protect farmers against political “farmers”, local opportunists and gangsters.
Private financial institutions should give easier, cheaper financing and advice to black farmers — and of course to white farmers. Failed land reform can lead to investment, currency and capital flight, and the collapse of the financial and property system, the currency and the rule of law. It can result in mass starvation, unemployment and poverty.
William Gumede is an Associate Professor in the Wits School of Governance. This is an extract from a keynote address he made at the symposium of deciduous fruit producer Hortgro recently. This article first appeared in the Business Day.
Young women in Soweto say healthy living is hard. Here’s why
- Alessandra Prioreschi
Data from South Africa has shown that over two thirds of young women are overweight and obese.
This predisposes them to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Most women are not exercising enough, and consumption of processed and calorie-dense foods and high amounts of sugar is common.
It was this knowledge that sparked the establishment of the Health Life Trajectories Initiative. It’s being run in South Africa, India, China and Canada and aims to provide interventions that can help young women stay healthy before, during and after pregnancy. In South Africa, this randomised controlled trial will provide one-on-one support as well as peer group sessions to over 6000 young women. The idea is provide them with information, and to help them set and maintain goals for healthier lifestyles.
Researchers from the Medical Research Council and Wits University’s Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit are running the South African arm of the study. We wanted to start by better understanding our target population – that is, young women aged between 18 and 24 living in Soweto. Soweto is a large, densely populated urban township which comprises one third of Johannesburg’s population. Soweto is becoming rapidly urbanised, but the majority of people are still very poor and struggle to provide food for their families.
We conducted a series of focus group discussions and in depth interviews to unravel health behaviours, barriers and facilitators to wellbeing and health with young women from Soweto who had not yet had a child. We also asked them about what sorts of interventions they’d prefer to support and guide them.
The women offered important insights that showed it’s not enough to simply promote healthy eating and exercise without considering the very real environmental and structural constraints present in South Africa.
Barriers to healthy choices
The 29 participants spoke about many different facets of health. These included happiness and mental wellbeing, faith, social support, body image, and lifestyle behaviours.
They identified many barriers to healthy eating, among them the cost of and access to healthy food options. Some women also said they had little access to exercise facilities such as gyms and were afraid to exercise on the streets because they feared being assaulted or harassed. One woman said:
No, I don’t feel safe because we have drug addicts, traffic, women trafficking: it’s not safe for us to walk in the streets.
The women we interviewed painted a picture of an environment in which healthy behaviours are difficult to implement or sustain. One said:
Small businesses that are opening up in my community and they all sell fries, literally they just all sell fries…
Women told us that cheap and unhealthy fast foods are on every street corner: “bunny chow” – hollowed out bread stuffed with curry – vetkoek (a fried dough bread stuffed with different fillings) and fried chips are affordable and available within a few steps of most houses. As a result, women did not want to go out of their way to purchase healthier, more expensive foods.
Our interviewees also didn’t feel able to demand that healthier food be bought for their homes, because many were not contributing financially and were therefore not in a position to control food purchases. Women reported being financially dependant on relatives and male partners.
Exercise
They also said that opportunities for physical activity were neither provided nor prioritised for women in Soweto. Some women said that a lack of facilities made it difficult for them to participate in any exercise, as they did not have access to gyms or fields to exercise.
Other women told us that there were gyms, sports grounds, parks, and even free aerobics classes at community halls in their area. However these facilities often get vandalised quickly, and can no longer be used. More importantly, they didn’t feel safe enough to exercise on the streets, perhaps by jogging or running. They also felt unsafe walking around in leggings or tights. Women were fearful of human trafficking, sexual assault, and violence – very real issues in this community.
Crucially, our research found that young women did not see obesity as a sufficient reason to change their behaviour. But they said they would be motivated to exercise and eat better if they were diagnosed with a non-communicable disease like diabetes.
This suggests that obesity has become normalised in South Africa – and this needs to be addressed.
Policy interventions
These findings are now being worked into our interventions, and we are cognisant of the contextual realities that may affect young women’s ability to change their lifestyles. We hope that this research, along with whatever findings emerge from our interventions, will inform policy makers and motivate them to implement necessary changes in this community.
Women in Soweto and in South Africa in general need support to live healthier lifestyles. This support needs to come from policy makers. If South Africa does not step up and support young women by providing them with access to safe spaces and affordable healthier foods, and by controlling the oversupply of unhealthy options, the country may not be able to curb its ever increasing rise in obesity and related non-communicable diseases.
Adherence is delaying HIV elimination targets. What’s needed to break the cycle
- Michelle Moorhouse and Willem Daniel Francois Venter
As 2020 draws closer, the deadline to end AIDS by 2030 looms large. The aim is to achieve the ambitious targets of “90-90-90”.
That is, 90% of people living with HIV knowing their status; 90% of all those with HIV on antiretroviral therapy; and 90% of those on antiretroviral therapy with no HIV in their bloodstream.
So how has a country like South Africa, with the heaviest AIDS burden in the world, fared?
According to UNAIDS, South Africa achieved the first of the three 90s in 2017. This was driven largely by two nationwide testing initiatives. But success in achieving the two remaining targets has been slower. As of 2018, only two thirds of the 7.1 million people living with HIV were on antiretroviral therapy, of whom 78% percent were virologically suppressed. This equates to only 44% of all people with HIV being virologically suppressed.
People who are virologically suppressed can’t transmit HIV, a major reason to push the 90-90-90 targets. If less than half of South Africans are suppressed, the country needs to work harder to get the missing half tested and treated appropriately. This is for their own health, and to stop further transmissions.
There are two main reasons these targets haven’t been met. The first relates to testing: people still don’t get tested, test late, or don’t make their way onto antiretroviral treatment.
The second is that people who do start their treatment often stop taking their medication. This has blunted the extraordinary way in which South Africa has enrolled millions of people onto safe and effective HIV treatment. Fifteen years ago, hardly anybody was on treatment and the disease killed almost everyone who had it. Today, most people with HIV have free access to a single, safe tablet a day in state clinics. As a result, people are living long healthy lives with HIV.
For South Africa to improve antiretroviral adherence, it needs a package of other interventions at a social, systemic and individual level. Innovative breakthroughs are also needed in the administration of the drugs.
Why people don’t take their drugs
The reasons that people don’t take their antiretrovirals are multi-faceted and extremely complex.
The side-effects of earlier antiretrovirals were one reason. But many of the newer antiretroviral medications are much better tolerated. People with HIV are therefore less likely to discontinue them. In fact, most of the reasons people don’t take their medication aren’t related to the antiretrovirals themselves.
Instead, they’re related to much broader and often social or systemic issues. These include the social chaos that surrounds people who have marginal or no employment; alcohol or substance use; family fragmentation and all the trappings of a society that often offers poor social support.
Treatment for most people with HIV consists of a single tablet taken once a day. Side-effects occur early on and resolve in the majority of cases within a few days or weeks.
In these terms, treatment for HIV is possibly well ahead of treatments for other chronic diseases, such as diabetes. It’s simple, convenient, effective, well tolerated and cost effective. And yet starting and staying on antiretroviral therapy remains a significant challenge.
Some of the myriad reasons for not taking antiretrovirals include complexity of the regimen; size of the pill; pill burden associated with treating other illnesses that people may have.
In addition, for many the issue is around access and availability of their antiretroviral medications. Many people don’t have the means to get to the clinic for their medications; they can’t afford time off work to go to the clinic; or the clinic does not have their antiretrovirals because of stock-outs.
Some people simply want to forget that they have HIV. Or they may feel so well that they forget to take their pills. For some, it’s simply a case of life happens and life is busy – it’s easy to forget to take one’s pills.
Stigma and non-disclosure of HIV status are further contributors, not to mention the impact of substance abuse and (often undiagnosed) mental health disorders like depression and anxiety.
So what’s the answer?
Innovative approaches needed
One answer is to come up with drugs that are easier to take. That goes without saying. In addition, however, we believe that the time is ripe to develop innovative approaches to improving adherence.
The theme of this year’s AIDS conference in South Africa is “Unprecedented Innovations and Technologies: HIV and change”. Its focus is on the incredible scientific, social and digital innovations and technologies that could expand possibilities and opportunities towards controlling HIV/AIDS.
One example currently under development that may help overcome some of the challenges posed to antiretroviral adherence at social, systemic and individual level is new thinking around how antiretrovirals could be delivered.
What if they could be delivered as an injectable medication at monthly (or even less frequent) intervals instead of a daily pill? Or even better, what about implantable antiretrovirals that last not months but years? No pills for people to have to conceal in cases of non-disclosure; no daily pill that is easily forgotten in the chaos of daily life; less frequent clinic visits which benefits the individual as well as the health system.
Studies have demonstrated that people with HIV prefer injectable antiretrovirals to pills, despite injection pain. If we look at the example of contraception, this isn’t surprising – the preferred contraceptives in sub-Saharan Africa are injectable contraceptives.
A decade ago, injectable and implantable antiretrovirals may have sounded like science fiction. But these technologies are increasingly within reach and may resolve many of the issues associated with poor adherence.
Having changed Prime Ministers three times, between 2012 and 2014, this move may not come as a surprise. But some see it as an overreach, designed to concentrate more power in the hands of the president, and therefore problematic.
On the one hand it undermines democratic processes and principles. It also highlights the liberties that politicians in Senegal tend to take once elected into office. In this instance, the decision was not submitted to a referendum, as called for by the opposition and civil society organisations. Instead it was passed behind closed doors by a parliamentary majority that is largely under the sway of the President.
The office of the Prime Minister has often been seen as a potential threat to the Presidency. The Prime Minister is usually second in command of both the government and the president’s party. This makes him or her a potential successor to the president. In the history of Senegalese politics, the presence or absence of a Prime Minister has always been a determining factor in governmental stability and political succession.
However, given that the longest serving Prime Minister on record was Mohamed Boune Abdallah (from April 2014 to April 2019) under Macky Sall’s regime, the reasons for what some have called a “step backwards for democracy” (to quote former Prime Minister Abdul Mbaye), seem to lie elsewhere.
Changing Prime Ministers
Frequent changes of Prime Ministers are not unusual in Senegalese politics. In the 43 years between 1957 and 2000, Senegal had six Prime Ministers. In the past few years however, these changes have become more frequent. Between 2000 and 2014 there were nine. The office of the Prime Minister has also been scrapped twice – between 1963 and 1970 and from 1983 to March 1991.
Over these same periods, the country had 30 socialist governments – that is, an average of 1.43 governments per year – against ten Liberal governments (2000 to 2012) – an average of almost 1.4.
In the past, the scrapping of the office of Prime Minister was influenced by factors that are unrelated to a specific political regime or president. Here, we will look at three in particular.
Governing “crises”
The first relates to the crises in the top levels of government.
This often happens because of the country’s fragmented multiparty system. In Senegal, the number of parties rose from 41 in 1981 to 258 in 2016.
It could also happen when a president fails to tend to their close relationships or when a Prime Minister is thought to overshadow the president, and is scheming for a succession plan.
In 1963, President Léopold Sédar Senghor – who served as the country’s first president – organised a referendum which allowed him to get rid of the Prime Minister’s office. Senghor was convinced that an executive power with two leaders was a dangerous thing for a young and still fragile nation State. The two-headed executive was said to have led to a confusion of duties between the President and his Prime Minister.
Yet, Senghor held a second referendum in 1970, this time to make Abdou Diouf the head of the government. Had he suddenly ceased to fear the effects of a two-headed executive on a presidential regime, or was he paving the way for his political successor?
Electoral performance
The second factor relates to the way governments are formed and reshuffled, rewarding or punishing allies based on their electoral performances.
One example of this was the sacking of Prime Minister Aminata Touré in 2014 following her defeat at the municipal election in Grand Yoff, Dakar, a stronghold of the city’s former mayor Khalifa Ababacar Sall.
Given the already considerable powers held by the Senegalese President, this need for control could be more about succession than anything else.
With this in mind, it should be acknowledged that although democratic transitions have often been transformative, in the Senegalese case, they have also paradoxically led to a weakening of the country’s institutions.
The need to reinvent institutions and reinforce the separation of powers has rarely driven the reforms carried out over the last three decades. This is clearly illustrated by the aberrant discrepancy between the longevity of presidential careers and the ephemeral nature of governmental teams.
Translated from the French by Alice Heathwood for Fast ForWord.
Tropical cyclones are on the rise in southern Africa
- Ozayr Patel with Jennifer Fitchett
Southern Africa has seen a rise in tropical cyclones recently. Why? Listen to Pasha 20, The Conversation Africa’s podcast on research.
The most recent examples were Cyclones Kenneth and Idai that hit Mozambique and surrounds.
In the latest episode of Pasha Dr Jennifer Fitchett, a senior lecturer in physical geography at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, explained why this is happening.
This episode also looked at naming cyclones and how they are measured.
Tribute to Raymond Louw: a great SA editor and determined activist
- Anton Harber
Veteran journalist Raymond Louw (93) passed away recently - a former editor of the Rand Daily Mail and tireless press freedom campaigner and mentor.
Anton Harber delivered the eulogy at his funeral. This is an edited version.
There are dictators and autocrats who are breathing a little easier today. The intolerant, the narrow-minded, the scared, the defensive, the haters of freedom and particularly freedom of speech, are watching us lay to rest the man who never left them alone.
Like a mosquito on a hot summer’s night, Raymond Louw buzzed around the heads of those who challenged our right to speak our minds. They cursed him and tried to swat him away, but he persisted, circling, watching and settling wherever he could to disturb and irritate them. Today, they hope they can rest a little easier, because Ray is gone.
There are lawmakers who are thinking: perhaps now we can slip a Bill through without “Oom Ray” (“Uncle Ray”, as he was known), noticing that it has implications for media freedom. There are political leaders who will be thinking, maybe now I can get in a swipe at journalists without him giving me a hard time.
And, if we are to be honest, there are also many of Ray’s friends and colleagues who feel that they might get a brief rest. Because the man who cajoled and prodded them, who constantly reminded them of the need to be alert and vigilant for new threats to our freedom, the man who volunteered first and then obliged you to follow him, who wrote countless petitions, memoranda and policy documents, who never slowed down, has left us.
Yet Ray was the one with the energy, the steely resolve and the staying power. Even at 93 years old, until the last few weeks, Ray was the most solid, consistent and reliable activist in the world of anti-censorship, putting to shame younger men like me. When we were exhausted, Ray would keep going. When we wanted to give up, Ray would not let us.
There are a number of parts to Ray’s legacy.
Oom Ray’s legacy
If we just think of him as the finest editor of one of the finest newspapers, it would be enough for a legacy. There are others who were more ostentatious and quicker to claim credit for the international reputation of the Rand Daily Mail as the newspaper which covered the brutal horrors of apartheid better than any other media of the time, an often lone liberal voice in a cacophony of reactionary hostility and white paranoia.
But I can tell you, as someone who has spent time going through the newspapers of that period, the paper stood out from its peers for its commitment to fine, critical and independent journalism – and that it was at its best and its strongest during Ray’s 11-year editorship. When he took over from Laurence Gandar, the man who had turned it from a right-wing rag to a powerful and important critical liberal voice, he told the board of directors he would continue with that tradition. That was Ray – he would not mislead or disguise to get the position; he was straightforward, scrupulously honest and firm in his views. And it was under Ray that the paper reached its zenith in circulation, impact, and was even in profit.
Ray oversaw the Rand Daily Mail’s coverage of the June 1976 students’ uprising, during which apartheid police killed unarmed schoolchildren. The paper covered those epochal events better, fuller and quicker than its rivals. Ray was first and foremost a hard news man who placed the highest value on getting the story and, above all, getting it right. Journalists who worked under him will tell you that he was a demanding task-master who set high standards, but if you got it right, he would back you to the hilt and stand between you and those who would attack you.
It was Ray who brought the first black reporters and photographers into the newsroom. When a white photographer objected to sharing a darkroom with the now legendary photographer Peter Magubane, Ray’s hands were tied by the law. So he set up a special darkroom for Peter on the roof of the building to get around the segregation laws and ensure Peter could continue working. Peter will tell you that he enjoyed the solitude of his out-of-sight darkroom, and that Ray stood by him during his lengthy spell in detention.
Journalist’s journalist, editor’s editor
If we think of Ray as someone who rose from the bottom ranks of newspaper to reach the pinnacle, self-made and self-taught, that would in itself be a legacy of note. Rejecting the path of engineering, he found himself a position as what was then called a copyboy, the lowliest newsroom person who ran with the copy from typewriter to typesetter. He worked his way through the newsroom, step-by-step, reporter, sub-editor, news editor, night editor, and then editor.
It is important to remember what a time it was. The apartheid government was at its strongest, most ruthless and most authoritarian. There were few voices within the country standing up against it, and the Rand Daily Mail’s was one of the most consistent of them. It is true that the newspaper operated within the constraints and limitations of the time, within the framework of the law, commerce and the white parliamentary politics. But it constantly pushed at these boundaries, covering black politics, township life and the horrors of apartheid more than any of its competitors.
When Ray was retired as editor, and later as a manager, it was an early sign of the assertion of short-term commercial interests over a longer-term vision for South Africa and its journalism.
If we just considered the period after Ray’s editorship, when he gave his time to the cause of anti-censorship, his extensive work there would also present an admirable legacy. For around 65 years in journalism, he had our backs. He didn’t have to like you, or agree with you, and if so he would certainly let you know, but if you produced good journalism, he would defend you and your work with passion and determination.
He read every Bill, he scoured all the news, read every court document, he was vigilant in seeking out any hint of a threat to freedom of speech, and he would be on it: consistently and relentlessly.
An editor and an activist
So we will remember him as a great editor and a determined activist. But Ray was also a man of unbending principle: you never had any doubt about what he believed, what he thought and what he stood for. He was firm, consistent and solid as a rock. He had a spine of steel. And he was an impeccable gentleman.
Every now and then there is a death which gives us pause, a legacy which makes us stop and reevaluate our own lives and values, that has us thinking how much more we can do with our time and our resources and the balance between our public and our private lives. Every now and then there is a model of a life lived to the full that we have to stop and ponder, and see if we could possibly match up to it.
South Africa should learn from Brazil about how to tackle ‘hidden hunger’
- Brittany Kesselman
South Africa faces a double burden of hunger and malnutrition, on the one hand, and obesity with associated non-communicable diseases (NCDs), on the other.
In many countries, in both the global North and South, malnutrition and obesity frequently co-exist in the same people. This is a condition known as “hidden hunger”.
Hidden hunger is a result of various factors. These include poverty, inequality, urbanisation and industrialisation of the food system. The interplay of these factors leaves low income households with very limited access to fresh, healthy foods. Instead, many South Africans – and other people living in similar conditions – subsist on diets high in sugar and processed starch. These diets contribute to increasing levels of obesity. But they don’t meet nutritional needs.
My research among urban farmers and low-income residents in Johannesburg identified the complexity of factors that influence dietary choices. It also identified the obstacles to accessing healthy food. Cost is a major impediment while physical access, nutritional knowledge, concentration in the food industry and dietary norms also played a role in shaping diets. Without addressing all of these, South Africa will be unable to address the double burden of malnutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
Despite the fact that diet has been a major contributing factor to the growth of NCDs in recent years there are virtually no connections between South Africa’s agricultural and health policies. Policies to address hunger and malnutrition have tended to be housed in the Department of Agriculture. They have focused on increasing production, whether through urban agriculture or support to small-scale farmers in rural areas.
For its part, the Department of Health remains confined to treatment with medication and limited advice – like diet and exercise. This is despite the fact that the department recognises there needs to be a multi-pronged approach to NCDs.
This needs to change. South African practitioners and policy makers could learn from international examples, where the public and private health sectors have begun to make the link between food and wellness. In particular, policies that were introduced a quarter of a century ago in a city in Brazil provide a useful template of what an integrated approach could look like.
Connecting the dots
Innovative policies and programmes in various countries are beginning to link food and health.
To draw a few examples from the United States, which faces high rates of obesity and NCDs, the new field of culinary medicine looks at how dietary changes can restore and maintain health. A number of hospitals are creating food gardens to serve healthy meals to patients. Doctors are writing scripts for fruits and vegetables so that patients can afford them.
At the same time, in the US and Canada, food banks and other organisations that combat hunger are attempting to distribute healthier foods. These organisations are also engaging in advocacy for a more just and equitable food system.
The link is also being made between the livelihoods of food producers and the environmental sustainability of the food system. In the US a non-governmental organisation incentivises recipients of the government’s food assistance programme, SNAP, to buy fresh produce at local farmers’ markets through a double value coupon programme. The UN’s Purchase from Africa for Africans Programme leverages public procurement for school meals to improve children’s health and education while supporting small-scale family farmers. It draws lessons from Brazil and has been implemented in five African countries.
The city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil provides a noteworthy example of how innovative, integrated food and nutrition security policies can assist communities. It has been implementing policies designed to ensure that residents are able to enjoy the right to food for the past 25 years. The city’s programmes include:
popular restaurants serving subsidised healthy meals;
shops selling subsidised fresh fruit and vegetables in under-served areas;
a food bank. This reduces food waste by rescuing food otherwise discarded by retailers. The food is then checked and provided to social programmes (such as crèches and old age homes);
farm stalls and farmers’ markets. These enable small-scale farmers to sell directly to consumers, cutting out the middleman and thereby raising incomes;
public procurement from small-scale farmers, especially those using agroecological production methods;
school lunches and school gardens. These ensure that children have access to nutritious meals and that they learn about food production and nutrition.
On a research visit to Belo Horizonte, I saw how these programmes improve access to fresh fruits and vegetables – a key measure in the fight against malnutrition and obesity.
They also support decent incomes for small-scale producers through direct market access and public procurement. In addition, environmentally sustainable production is encouraged through reservation of additional public funds to purchase agroecologically-farmed foods.
Beyond the health and economic benefits, the programmes support social cohesion through communal eating spaces, cultural events that feature local gastronomy, and local farmers’ markets where people can meet the farmers who grow their food and enjoy a sense of community.
One of the most remarkable aspects of Belo Horizonte’s food and nutrition security programme is its low cost: less than 2% of the city’s budget. Another is the degree of cooperation among government departments, as well as partnership with civil society organisations.
When the policies and programmes developed in Belo Horizonte were rolled out nationally, Brazil experienced a notable decline in hunger.
The model provides many useful lessons that could greatly benefit South Africa. The Department of Health, along with other government departments and civil society partners, needs to take a bold move to tackle the problems of malnutrition, obesity and associated NCDs through a multi-faceted approach.
Ramaphosa’s vision needs to be wider than just attracting foreign investment
- Imraan Valodia
Unless the government regulates the economy effectively, it will generate growth that accrues disproportionately to those with wealth and power.
Everyone accepts that to create a more equitable society we need to grow the economy. As we wait to hear what President Cyril Ramaphosa will share as his vision for the country in the state of the nation address on Thursday evening, it may be worth reflecting on past strategies to achieve this goal.
Much coverage has been given to the importance of investment as a key strategy. Ramaphosa’s investment target is $100bn (about R1.2-trillion) over five years. Key to this is an undertaking to create a business-friendly environment, which means tackling the cost of doing business in SA and reducing red tape. But will the investment drive, even if it is mildly successful, generate a pattern of economic growth that takes on the key challenges in our country?
Economic growth is not an end in itself. It is the means to achieve a society that is free, equitable and sustainable. Many societies, over time, have achieved high levels of economic growth but often the benefits have accrued to only a small group, while the majority have been left worse off. SA is a good example — in the 1950s and 1960s our growth rate was among the highest in the world, but the growth was associated with dispossession and racial oppression. Only a small group, mainly whites, benefited. Both the patterns of growth and distribution of growth are important. To use terminology economists love, growth is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for meeting our economic and social challenges.
A business-friendly approach did attract new and significant investment in the past, but these investments failed to generate a fitting pattern of economic growth for the structural economic challenges we have. Moreover, there are good reasons to suggest that this approach, while generating growth, may well have increased inequalities in our society.
Ramaphosa needs to do a lot more than attract investment if we are to build an inclusive and sustainable society. An essential component of a good growth strategy is good social policies. Experience across the world, including in the postwar period in Europe, the Scandinavian countries, East Asia and Latin America recently, highlights the importance of effective social policies such as health, early childhood development, housing and education in generating growth that is inclusive and sustainable.
The lesson is that, correctly designed and effectively implemented, social policies will generate growth because, among others, it is an investment in people and has significant spillover effects, for example in health infrastructure expenditure. We need to design our social policies as engines of growth, rather than something that should follow from growth, which is the narrative we hear all too often. Of course, prudent economic policymaking needs to carefully combine social policy with macroeconomic policy to ensure sustainability.
Besides the glaring problems in areas such as health and education, two deeper issues of social policy need to be considered. With a few exceptions, the SA economy is a comfortable place for “big men”. More than half our population is held back by gender discrimination and violence — in the household, in our educational institutions, in the workplace, and in the wider society. A set of targets is needed that measures, as part of a growth plan, women’s improved participation in the economy. This could include the gender pay gap, enrolment in education and progress in women’s earnings across the economy, including the informal economy.
Second, ours remains a highly unequal society — across race, gender and income levels. The statistics are quite stark. The wealthiest 10% of South Africans earn almost 60% of our income and own 95% of the wealth. This is not a basis for a society that will generate sustainable growth. Instead, it is a basis for a society that will have rampant greed and corruption, high levels of conflict, high levels of crime and low levels of growth.
We need growth policies that promote social mobility in SA — the movement of individuals, households and social groups up the social strata of our society. More effective education, especially higher education, is very important for social mobility. But so are other things — for example, spatial planning, reducing transport costs and creating opportunities for women, particularly black women, young people and other marginalised groups to reduce the unequal power that “big men” in “big business” exert over the economy.
Another key lesson from the literature on growth is the importance of effective government and good governance. Unfortunately, in many parts of our country the government is failing to provide even the most basic services: water, electricity, policing and so on. In a modern economy, the government has an important role — not just to provide basic services and create a business-friendly environment, but to regulate the economy effectively to ensure growth is inclusive. The international evidence, particularly in the recent period, is quite conclusive — unless the government regulates the economy effectively it will generate growth that accrues disproportionately to those with wealth and power.
Areas such as competition policy and regulation of technology, information, the environment and taxation are all critical elements of economic growth. As the custodian of our future, the regulation of natural resources, and more generally, the environment, is really important. As the conflict between mining interests and communities in the Xolobeni area of the Eastern Cape shows, just attracting investment without dealing with the complex environmental and social issues can generate conflict. What we need is an effective, capable and intelligent state with regulatory authorities that can exercise the necessary independence to bring communities on board with development, and that are adequately resourced.
A third lesson from the growth literature is that economic growth will lead to a set of “blockages” and generate a process of “creation” and “destruction” that has huge benefits but also social costs. In a society as unequal as ours, there is a high probability that the benefits will accrue to the wealthy and the costs will be borne disproportionately by the poor. A sustainable growth process has to ensure vulnerable groups in society are protected. We are fortunate in SA to have an effective social protection system and policies — such as the national minimum wage — which protect earnings at the lowest end of the earnings distribution. An effective growth strategy needs to carefully consider structural transformation costs, so that the poor are not further penalised.
We know a lot about growth and the growth process. Policies that promote an open economy, high levels of saving and investment, to name just a few, are very important. However, focusing exclusively on investment and creating a business-friendly environment has not, and in all probability will not, generate inclusive and sustainable economic growth in SA in the future. The goal of economic growth is to improve the quality of life of all citizens and to provide the basis for a sustainable future for all. This vision needs to be built into the president’s economic plans.
Profeesor Imraan Valodia is Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at Wits University and leads its Southern Centre for Inequality Studies. This artile was first published in Business Day.
The century of the African philanthropists is here, but wise choices must be made
- Emmanuel K Akyeampong and Bhekinkosi Moyo
African philanthropists have the capital, influence, local knowledge and moral authority to address pressing challenges that face the continent.
But we need to rethink the relationship between government, the private sector, and philanthropy.
Philanthropy is a product of a successful business in the private sector. It is inspired by a desire to give back to society, and for the very wealthy the remit is almost global. In this form it is more deliberate, often goes beyond the scale of kin and the local community, and seeks to make an impact that is visible and measurable. This requires structure, and philanthropy at this scale is organised through foundations. This distinguishes philanthropy from charity both in scale and in the targeted recipients.
Governments need to work collaboratively with philanthropists, civil society and the private sector in innovative ways to make more impact on the continent. Colonial capitalism made newly-independent African governments ambivalent about capitalism and meant there was no capitalist middle class in Black Africa. There was more interest in wealth redistribution than wealth creation. The high net worth individuals in Africa who have been profiled inForbesemerged mostly over the last two decades. That their rise coincided with the era of NGOs (non-governmental organisations), and their championing of advocacy, make governments uneasy about the foundations of the new African wealthy organised as NGOs.
It is important to rethink the relationship between government, the private sector, and philanthropy, as Africa’s developmental agenda overwhelms any single government. In Africa, philanthropy has engaged in disaster relief, poverty relief, in education, job training and employment opportunities. In these areas, they intersect with government and must collaborate for maximum impact, especially since government sets the policy agenda for areas such as education, and in terms of disaster or poverty relief has the infrastructure to intervene more effectively.
Philanthropy cannot displace or disrupt government. A partnership is crucial. It is estimated that the funding gap for Africa to achieve the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) is about $2.3-trillion. Government, the private sector and philanthropy will have to work together on innovative solutions for social change, especially with the declining levels of international development assistance.
The role of government is to provide essential services – physical and social infrastructure (roads, railway, hospitals, schools, etc) – ensure a conducive policy environment that enables the pursuit of potential, provide law and order and maintain security, etc.
The role of the private sector is to invest in the stock of productive capital, to create jobs, working closely with the government to meet the government’s developmental vision, and with educational institutions (especially technical institutions and universities) that train the workforce of the future. The private sector services the financial market and finances economic ventures with an eye on returns.
Some wealthy African philanthropists have created foundations that emulate the West with strategic goals and processes, but with or without a foundation, these African philanthropists tend to give on local and personal interests. Philanthropy on the continent can be transformed through philanthropy education, that gives African high net worth individuals a better understanding of the landscape of philanthropy in Africa, and how to give in more impactful ways. Legacy is an integral part of giving, and it is more appealing to be remembered nationally, regionally or continentally than to be remembered in just one’s hometown.
On May 16-17 2019, the Harvard University Center for African Studies, African Centre on Philanthropy and Social Investment at the Wits Business School, Trust Africa and the African Philanthropy Forum held an African Philanthropy Conference in Johannesburg to increase awareness and set the agenda of philanthropy in Africa. Here are a few areas where philanthropy could play a major role in Africa:
Invest in knowledge development:Invest in higher education, in technology, science, medicine and other areas that touch local societies broadly. At the top US universities, the production of knowledge is a partnership between philanthropy and universities: programmes, labs and buildings are named in the pursuit of knowledge and legacy.
Reduce social inequality:Invest in schemes that reduce social inequality. Africa has a rising number of ultra-high net worth individuals (754), defined as individuals with $50-million and above. Though this does not compare favourably even with a developing country like India with 3,399 individuals worth $50-million and above, more wealthy Africans have been profiled inForbesin the last decade than at any time. The rising number of poor in Africa, clearly a challenge the governments have failed to redress, places a special responsibility on the ultra-wealthy in seeking to reduce social inequality. The World Bank estimates that 77% of the world’s poor will be in Africa in 2030.
Create a better future for the youth on the continent:Africa’s population is set to double by the year 2050 from 1.2 billion to 2.5 billion. Already this is the continent with the most youthful population. Our understanding of early childhood development has underscored the importance of the first 1,000 days in health and cognition based on good nutrition and early education. This is an area where philanthropy can work with the government to ensure a better future for the continent and to avoid a demographic disaster.
Invest in areas that are left unattended by government and business:There are areas of rising concern that governments with their numerous responsibilities lack the nimbleness to respond to in a timely manner. Climate change is one example. In the US the private sector has begun to invest in climate studies, especially with the current government’s disinterest in climate change. The preservation of culture in museums, the conservation of historic buildings, nature conservation, etc, have all fallen into disrepair. These could be avenues of philanthropic giving, as together they provide a fuller African narrative.
As academic institutions, we wish to facilitate effective giving by building strategies for transformative change in Africa through philanthropy.
Professor Emmanuel K Akyeampong is Oppenheimer Faculty Director at Harvard University’s Center for African Studies and Ellen Gurney Professor of History and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard. Dr Bhekinkosi Moyo is Director and Adjunct Professor at the Africa Centre for Philanthropy and Social Investment, University of the Witwatersrand. This article was first published on the Daily Maverick.
People have skewed views on inflation. Why this matters
- Jannie Rossouw
Countries that use an inflation target to anchor monetary policy pay considerable attention to expectations of future inflation.
South Africa is a case in point. The country has an inflation target of 3% to 6% per annum, with a particular focus on the midpoint of 4.5% and keeping inflation at that level.
The point of having an inflation target is so that central banks can adjust monetary policy – in particular interest rates – with future price trends and inflation developments in mind.
Future inflation expectations determine current policy decisions. But these expectations are anchored in the credibility of past inflation figures. This aspect is often overlooked in monetary policy decisions.
The system of inflation targeting falls down if the general public doesn’t believe the historic rate of inflation. There’s been an assumption for quite some time that most people don’t believe past inflation figures. This lack of credibility was recently reconfirmed in joint research of the University of the Witwatersrand and the Professional Provident Society. The society is an insurer for professional people. It periodically does surveys among its members.
The members are professionals – including doctors, engineers, lawyers, accountants, financial advisers, academics, scientists and architects. They therefore aren’t representative of a cross-section of the South African population, but a good sample of the middle class. Nevertheless the survey results provide a good insight into the perceptions of professionals from a broad cross section of civil society.
We found that the perception of most of those surveyed was that inflation was much higher than it is in reality. This matters because the low credibility of historic inflation figures feeds into expectations about inflation.
It therefore shows that the South African Reserve Bank faces an uphill battle in anchoring expectations of future price increases at the level of the inflation target. The perception that historic price increases were higher than the target rate, feed into expectations of future price increases above the inflation target rate.
Expectations
The research involved an online questionnaire to members to gauge their perceptions on a number of issues related to inflation. In total 5137 respondents provided answers.
The first question put to the respondents was: over the past five years, prices in general have increased by on average 5.4% per year. During 2018, prices increased by 4,7%. In your opinion, by how much did prices increase during the past 12 months compared to the official rate?
The responses are summarised in Figure 1 below. This confirms very low credibility of historic inflation figures. On average, only 14% of respondents accepted the inflation rate as accurate, while 2% perceived inflation to be lower than the average rate. Put differently, 84% of respondents believe historic inflation was higher or much higher than reported by the official rate of inflation.
Figure 1: Inflation perceptions of respondents.Wits/PPS survey
The second question put to the respondents was: compared to 2018, by how much do you expect prices in general to increase during the next 12 months?
The responses to the second question confirm high inflation expectations, these can be seen in the figure below. On average, only 36% of respondents expected inflation expectations to be anchored in the historic rate of inflation. To the contrary, 64% of respondents held inflation expectations that were much higher than the historic rate of inflation.
Figure 2: Inflation perceptions of respondents.Wits/PPS survey
This leaves no doubt that the low credibility of historic inflation figures feeds into inflation expectations. People base their expectations of future inflation on their perceptions of the historic level of price increases.
The South African Reserve Bank uses the Bureau of Economic Research to measure inflation expectations. In its survey, the bureau only focuses on the inflation expectations of respondents and not on their perceptions of past inflation. The survey should be expanded with a question perceptions of historic inflation, thus expanding the focus of the sample to both inflation perceptions and inflation expectations.
Lessons for central banks
In their quest to contain future inflation expectations, central banks should address the problem of a lack of credibility in historic inflation figures. Inflation expectations will only be anchored in current inflation rate once the credibility of current inflation figures is established.
Owing to a lack of credibility in the historic inflation figures, there is an upward bias in inflation expectations that needs stricter monetary policy and higher interest rates than would be the case with credible historic inflation figures. Until there is general acceptance of the accuracy of historic inflation figures, it will be necessary for the central bank to err on the side of caution in setting the level of future interest rates.
This research on inflation perceptions shed some light on the formation of inflation expectations, which is missing from South African research. In South African research on inflation expectations, respondents are not asked questions on aspects informing their level of inflation expectations. Likewise, the society’s survey does not ask for specific indicators of reasons why respondents perceive historic inflation above the official rate of inflation, it merely asks for an overall perception. These are areas for future research.
South Africa takes a quantum leap and joins the race
- Zeblon Vilakazi
Quantum technologies are exploding and no longer the purview of laboratory experiments only.
The race is on for governments and private industries to adopt its most promising and robust ideas into applications. Already a billion-pound (R18-billion) industry in the UK, most developed countries and a few BRICS states have already invested millions of euros in quantum technologies. Should South Africa follow suit?
Co-ordinated and competing international efforts to develop quantum technologies are systematically leading the birth of a new high-tech industry. Early estimates show the current market value for components supplied to primary researchers in quantum technologies is around £100-million (R1.8-billion).
In May, aleading scientific journal, Nature, reportedthat the European Commission has quietly announced plans to launch a billion euro (R16.2-billion) research project to boost a raft of quantum technologies on the continent – from secure communication networks to ultra-precise gravity sensors and clocks. In Asia, Chinese scientists are nearing completion of a 2 000 kilometre-long quantum-communication link – the longest in the world – to send information securely between Beijing and Shanghai. US technology giants such as IBM, Google, Microsoft and Lockheed Martin are leading the quantum computing field with huge investments in related hardware and software development.
These advancements are further making the case for South Africa to become an active participant and not just passive recipient in shaping and driving some of the cutting-edge knowledge and technological quantum developments that have largely been concentrated in Europe, North America and North Eastern Asia.
Last weekWits University and IBM announceda new collaboration that makes Wits the first African partner on the IBM Q Network. Wits will act as the gateway through which its own researchers, as well as scholars from South Africa and the 15 universities in the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), can gain access to the 20 qubit-IBM Q quantum computer with its advanced quantum computing systems and software for teaching quantum information science and exploring early applications. This is no mean feat indeed, as it positions South Africa at the cutting edge of developments in this frontier field of computing.
Advances in the engineering of quantum states have given rise to the “second quantum revolution” with the arrival of new technologies, such as enhanced medical imaging, efficient light harvesting materials (clean energy) and secure optical communication networks (cybersecurity). These advances also led to the development ofexponentially faster computers (quantum computers)that are closely integrated with diverse technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning and considered a core security component of devices that will fuel the fourth industrial revolution.
Quantum research in South Africa over the past decade has produced significant results and, in some cases, has been world leading. The benefits offered by the leap in quantum computing technology advances are critical if the country is to continue to be part of this new wave of research.
In announcing the IBMQ/Wits partnership last week, Dr Solomon Assefa, Vice President for IBM Research: Africa & Emerging Market Solutions encompassing theSouth Africanand Kenyan labs and recipient of aMIT Technology Reviewaward for “Top Young Innovator under 35”, said: “To remain competitive for the coming decades we must get the next generation of students and researchers quantum ready.”
One of the most promising applications of quantum computing will be in thearea of chemistry. In the South African context, early interest in this field is inHIV drug delivery research. Researchers in molecular and cellular biology at Wits are specifically focusing on understanding the virus’s C-subtype, the most prevalent and frequently transmitted HIV subtype in sub-Saharan Africa that has been suggested to account for greater than 95% of infections in South Africa. Molecules obey the rules of quantum physics, and in order to model a molecule in nature you need instrumentation that behaves and follows the rules of that particular molecule. Researchers are exploring how to use quantum computing to do just that.
Far from being a leap of faith, investment in quantum technologies in South Africa is crucial if we want to leverage the next level of discovery research that can help us to address the country’s most intractable problems. Just as crucial is thedigital economicpotential that quantum computing holds fortechnology start-upsin the hardware and software development fields.
