Wanted : an economic system for South Africa

Abstract

At present, South Africa's economic system has no name and is under a cloud of confusion. This has been caused by the concurrence of two major political events: the collapse of the Soviet bloc and South Africa's changeover from an oligarchic to a democratic form of government. In the field of economics, the immediate result has been a system where two rather contradictory institutions coexist, namely, private property rights and centralised decision-taking. This institutional blend, however, represented the core of the National Socialist economy in Germany between 1933 and 1945. The multiplicity of controls by means of which such a system is operated, strongly appeals to the authoritarian bent of the South African government. Controls and dirigisme are, however, out of keeping with the present international trend of greater economic freedom.