“. . . . Never trust a communist. His Chinese comrades created the freest, most capitalistic economies in six ‘special economic zones’ (SEZs), adding ‘free ports’, ‘open cities’ and ‘technical hubs’. SEZs explain their spectacular prosperity. Davies was so impressed by what the comrades did that he deployed cadres to copy them. They enjoyed the journey to the future in China, but returned to perpetuate the past in SA. Neither he nor they grasped what makes special zones special. They literally think they have the right name. So, they are renaming our calamitous industrial development zones (IDZs) SEZs. Unlike China, which started with six very special zones, our whimsical planners are sprinkling putative SEZs into every province”.
Pro-market miracle is not out of our reach: Leon Louw’s latest column today in BDlive published by Business Day.
Further excerpts
OUR government is serious about turning us into one of the world’s richest countries. When our communist Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, counter-intuitively assures investors that “we’re open for business”, he means it. He places advertisements targeting the big league. In the British Airways inflight magazine, he trumpets our virtues under the seductive heading Discover the Opportunity. Our culture “is changing in this prosperous forward-looking nation”, he says. We now have “… a mind-set and a national passion to create the world’s best business environment”. Our progress is “not only measured by impressive economic figures or new buildings, new investor legislation diversifies our open economy”.
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But you never know. Our communist might emulate Nike’s slogan and “Just Do It” (JDI). You can, Mr Minister, create JDI SEZs. You can take your country and SEZs seriously by making them genuinely “offshore” and liberating them from the stifling taxes and controls to which you subject the rest of the country. You can divert billions of dollars from Kuwait and other JDI SEZs.
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Like China, Dubai is undemocratic and violates “fundamental rights”. India’s pro-market reforms grapple, as ours would, with populist democracy. Prosperity can occur under most political systems, including ours. The world’s most democratic country, Switzerland, used economic freedom to turn landlocked, mountainous, resourceless “cantons” into the greatest success.
The world’s experience proves that you, honourable minister, can do it. Just Do it!