Bad economic policies are pushing us over the social cliff – it is not too late to pull us back

The author contends that South Africa is failing to realize its economic potential due to policies that promote financialization and austerity over productive growth and social support. The text highlights the extreme wealth inequality in the country and criticizes the National Treasury's opposition to extending the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant. It argues that the current fiscal challenges are manageable and that austerity is counterproductive to growth, suggesting instead a model of decisive political leadership and state-led development to avoid a 'social cliff'.

• South Africa is characterized as the most unequal country in the world, with wealth concentration increasing significantly between 2000 and 2022; the Gini coefficient for wealth rose from approximately 80% to 89% during this period, and the share of wealth held by the bottom 90% of the population dropped from 30% to 19%.
• The Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant is described as a highly effective use of state resources, costing less than 2% of the national budget while benefiting 31 million people, yet the National Treasury opposes its extension or transformation into a long-term measure based on ideological grounds.
• Current macroeconomic policies are criticized for promoting deindustrialization and the excessive growth of the financial sector while marginalizing youth, contributing to a youth unemployment rate exceeding 70%.
• The author rejects the claim that South Africa is facing an immediate 'fiscal cliff' or debt crisis, asserting that current fiscal challenges are manageable and that austerity measures are actually anti-growth and may eventually lead to a fiscal crisis.

APA

Coleman, N. (2023). Bad economic policies are pushing us over the social cliff – it is not too late to pull us back. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/bad-economic-policies-are-pushing-us-over-the-social-cliff-it-is-not-too-late-to-pull-us-back/

Chicago

Coleman, Neil. Bad economic policies are pushing us over the social cliff – it is not too late to pull us back. Institute for Economic Justice, 2023. https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/bad-economic-policies-are-pushing-us-over-the-social-cliff-it-is-not-too-late-to-pull-us-back/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Coleman |first1=Neil |title=Bad economic policies are pushing us over the social cliff – it is not too late to pull us back |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |date=17 October 2023 |url=https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/bad-economic-policies-are-pushing-us-over-the-social-cliff-it-is-not-too-late-to-pull-us-back/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{coleman2023bad, author = {Coleman, Neil}, title = {{Bad economic policies are pushing us over the social cliff – it is not too late to pull us back}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/bad-economic-policies-are-pushing-us-over-the-social-cliff-it-is-not-too-late-to-pull-us-back/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }