Apartheid and new Economic policies 8

Question 1

meaning: economic policy, economic growth, economic development, sanctions, job reservation

Answer 1

economic policy - Laws (Acts) put into place by government in order to achieve a certain economic goal

economic growth - increase of goods and services produced in a country over time

economic development - increase in the standard of living of citizens of a country

sanctions - a refusal to trade with another country for social, moral and / or political reasons

job reservation - only allowing certain groups to apply for a job

Question 2

what was apartheid

Answer 2

• a socio-political policy enforced by government of SA from 1948 - 1994
• the term apartheid means separation or segregation in Afrikaans
• the policy sought to separate development of differ races within the country

Question 3

what law and policies were used to enforce apartheid

Answer 3

• Group Areas Act (1950)

= reserved certain areas for certain races ( had to have pass book)
= forced removals
= unequal distributions of funds for development
= exclusion form taking part in economic activities in all areas

• Bantu Education Act (1953)

= separate education standards for different races
= discrepancy in funding of education for differ races
= only in afrikaans and english
= along with group areas act led to job reservation for certain races

• Bantu Authorities Act (1951) & Black Homeland Citizenship Act (1970) [Homeland policies]

= separate development and authority for black SA’s
= lack of development in theses areas due to lack of funding
= citizenship of SA taken away - exclusion from economic activities

Question 4

economic effects of apartheid (10(8))

Answer 4

• sanctions
• drop in tourism
• low tax intake ( 9% citizens paid tax)
• big expenditure to set up industries to counter-act sanctions (Eskom, Sasol, Armscor, Iscor, Transnet)
• “Lost generation” - lack of education
• large loans had to be taken to finance expenditure on Homeland Policy and Defence department
• more than 505 of the population earning less than R3000 p.m.
• widespread unemployment
• large government debt
• inequality with regards to:
  = education
  = development
  = economy

Question 5

what economic policies were introduced into SA after apartheid and describe them

Answer 5

• RDP = Reconstruction and Development Program 1994

object removing racial biases from economic and social structure of South Africa

Principles of RDP:
= integrated and sustainable program 
= people driven process 
= peace & security for all
= nation-building
= link reconstruction and development 
= democratisation of SA 

• GEAR = Growth, Employment and Redistribution 1996

Goals:
= fast-tracking economic growth in order to generate formal employment for work-seekers
= redistributing income and generating opportunities for the poor
= creating a society in which sound health, education and other services are available to all
= enabling environment in which homes are secure and places of work are productive

• ASGI-SA = Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa 2006
• economy wasn’t growing fast enough from 1994 - 2005 to make significant difference to unemployment & poverty in SA
• because of this objectives of RDP & GEAR couldn’t be fully met

> the aim of accelerating growth was to achieve an average growth of:
= at least 4.5% between 2005-2009
= 6% between 2010 - 2014

> this was necessary to achieve the goal of halving unemployment by 2014

to achieve the aim of ASGI-SA the following economic problems identified that need to be worked on:

• value of currency changed a lot
• transport in SA expensive & underdeveloped
• it’s difficult to start a new business
• small & medium businesses don’t get help from government
• state owned businesses aren’t managed well