Trump right to highlight SA government’s “egregious actions” – IRR

President Trump’s 7 February executive order has exposed the SA government’s anti-growth policies to the full glare of global attention.

It correctly highlights the risks posed by the Expropriation Act, assented to by President Ramaphosa two weeks ago. The IRR has long drawn attention to the threat to property rights and to the economy posed by the Expropriation Act and its draft precursors for over a decade.

The executive order further notes the “countless government policies designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business” that have contributed to South Africa’s record unemployment, inequality and impoverishment.

The government’s racial preferencing policies have meant that some Afrikaners have been blocked from certain jobs. But so too have Indian, coloured, black and white men and women, because of racial quotas. Since its inception, the IRR has said that people should not be discriminated against based on their race.

This is something that President Trump’s executive order got wrong. It is not just Afrikaners that are suffering harm because of the South African government’s policies. It’s everyone. Every South African is affected by joblessness, high crime, corruption, and failing infrastructure, from water to roads to electricity.

But the primary responsibility for changing that lies with the South African government, not the Trump administration. It is the South African government that must start taking protecting property rights seriously and stop treating people differently based on their race.

As President Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address on 6 February showed, however, the ANC is extremely reluctant to change its discriminatory and anti-growth policies, despite having lost its majority in the 2024 election and governing as part of a broad coalition.

The IRR has prepared a series of “Blueprint for Growth” papers that explain in detail how South Africa can get back on the growth track – to the benefit of all its people. The papers are available for free on the IRR website.

Addendum:

To illustrate how people of any race or gender can be affected by racial discriminatory policy, we reproduce below an excerpt from the employment equity plan of the Department of Correctional Services, as quoted in Solidarity v Department of Correctional Services [2016]

ZACC 18. Below, “Level” refers to levels of seniority within the organisation.

Levels 3-5:

“At level 3 only Whites and Indians should be appointed. At salary level 4 only 9 African Males, one African Female and one Coloured Male need to be appointed to balance representation of the workforce. At level 5 only African Females, Whites and Indians can be appointed.”

Levels 6-8:

“At level 6 African Females, White Females and Indians should be appointed. At level 7 Africans (M 684; F 3 039) 331 Coloured Females and 103 Indian Females should be appointed. At level 8 only Africans (157 m & 190 f) and 15 Indians.

Levels 9-12:

“At levels 9 & 10 only 51 African Males, 198 African Females and 2 Indian Females can be appointed. At level 11 & 12 only 109 African Females, 5 White Females and 9 Coloured Females can be appointed.”

Levels 13-16:

“At level 13 African Males stand at 63 with a gap of -9 which indicates no African male should be appointed. 24 African Females, 4 Coloured Females and 1 Indian Female need to be appointed at this level. At level 14 only 3 African Females and 1 White Female needs to be appointed. At level 15 only 2 African Females and 1 African Male can be appointed.”

Media contact: Hermann Pretorius IRR Head of Strategic Communications Tel: 079 875 4290 Email: hermann@irr.org.za

Media enquiries: Michael Morris Tel: 066 302 1968 Email: michael@irr.org.za