Former SA Statistician-General Slams ANC Policies at Forum
Former statistician-general Pali Lehohla criticized government policies and enduring racial disparities at the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation forum.
At a glance
- Former statistician-general Pali Lehohla criticized ANC economic policies at the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation forum.
- Lehohla cited census data showing stark racial disparities in wealth distribution over a century.
- Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana earlier pointed to mining challenges and the financial fallout of State Capture.
South Africa faces a fragmented democracy and a bleak trajectory unless it radically alters its economic path, former statistician-general Pali Lehohla warned on Friday.
Speaking at the annual Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation Inclusive Growth Forum in the Drakensberg, Lehohla delivered a pointed critique of African National Congress policies, drawing on decades of census data.
Census data reveals deep racial divides
Lehohla presented 17 years of findings from four censuses conducted during his tenure at Statistics South Africa. He stated that over a century, which includes decades under ANC governance, only 13.7 percent of Black South Africans have reached the top economic quintile, compared with 73 percent of white citizens.
Describing the disparity as unjust, Lehohla argued that existing government strategies will fail to alter these economic outcomes.
Clash over mining and economic direction
The remarks followed an address by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, who defended the extractive sector as a vital national endowment while acknowledging that South Africa lags behind peers like Australia and Canada in exploration spending.
Godongwana also pointed to the lasting fiscal damage caused by the State Capture era under former president Jacob Zuma, citing a R575-billion deficit resulting from institutional decay and bailouts.
Questioning the reliance on resource extraction
Lehohla rejected the government's reliance on mining, arguing that mineral extraction drains wealth from local communities without fostering broad prosperity. The exchange highlights ongoing tensions between technocratic assessments of South Africa's economic structural challenges and official explanations pointing to past governance failures.
With local government elections approaching, such critiques underscore the political vulnerability of the ruling party regarding persistent inequality.
What to watch: Local government elections next week that are expected to test the ANC's electoral influence.
Reporting from: Daily Maverick. Spotted an error? Tell us.
- Pali Lehohla
- Enoch Godongwana
- ANC
- Statistics South Africa
- Economy
- South Africa
- Politics