South Africa’s Betrayal: Trapped in the Neoliberal Economic Trap, Abandoning Its People

South Africa’s Betrayal: Trapped in the Neoliberal Economic Trap, Abandoning Its People

South Africa, a nation born from the ashes of apartheid, dreamed of freedom, equality, and prosperity. Now, it stands at a heartbreaking crossroads. Thirty-one years after the dawn of democracy, the promise of a better life for all remains a cruel mirage. For millions, this promise remains unfulfilled. Over 30% of our people languish in unemployment. Youth unemployment is soaring to a staggering 70%. This statistic should ignite fury in every heart. Young South Africans are brimming with potential. They are left to rot in despair. Their dreams are crushed by a system that refuses to act. And why? The government, the very institution meant to uplift its people, is shackled by the neoliberal economic trap. It is a self-imposed prison of austerity, privatisation, and blind devotion to “investor confidence”. The anger burns. The sadness deepens. South Africa, a country that issues its own currency, the rand, acts as if it’s penniless. It cowers before global markets and credit rating agencies while its citizens suffer.

The Power of Monetary Sovereignty, Squandered

Let us be clear: South Africa issues the rand. This is not a household budget, where one must “balance the books” like a family scraping by. The government can never “run out” of rands because it creates them. This is monetary sovereignty. It is a powerful tool to rebuild a nation. It can fund jobs and invest in public services. It also has the potential to lift millions out of poverty. Yet, this power lies dormant, unused, as if it were a curse rather than a blessing. The state is spending much more to tackle the crisis of mass unemployment. It should also build infrastructure and guarantee jobs for every willing South African. Instead, it clings to a “balanced budget” mindset. This is a relic of the neoliberal economic trap. Such a mindset has no place in a country drowning in joblessness and despair.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) was granted independence post-1994. It obsesses over inflation targeting. It acts as if price stability is the only measure of a nation’s health. Austerity measures and interest rate hikes are tools of this neoliberal economic trap. They choke the economy. These measures strangle job creation and deepen the misery of the unemployed. Over 30% of our people suffer daily. Millions of mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters wake up with no work. They face each day without purpose and without hope.

Youth unemployment, at up to 70%, is a ticking time bomb, a generational tragedy that breeds anger, alienation, and despair. And yet, the government refuses to act boldly. Fiscal policy will create jobs directly. It would involve public investment in roads, schools, hospitals, and renewable energy projects. A job guarantee programme would guarantee no one is left behind. Inflation? It can be managed with targeted measures: price controls, fixing supply bottlenecks, and strategic planning. But no. The neoliberal economic trap demands blanket austerity, and the government obeys, leaving the people to pay the price.

The neoliberal economic trap prioritizes markets over people, austerity over action, and profits over progress.

The Neoliberal Turn: A Post-1994 Betrayal

How did we get here? The story is one of betrayal, and it stings. After 1994, South Africa had a chance to chart a new path. It was an opportunity to focus its people over profits. It was also a chance to build an economy for all. Instead, the ANC leadership, particularly under Thabo Mbeki, embraced the neoliberal economic trap with open arms. The 1996 Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) policy was a turning point a tragic one.

Privatisation, deficit cuts, and deregulation became the gospel, preached under the guise of “fiscal prudence” and “investor confidence”. The SARB, now independent, made inflation its god, sidelining the desperate need for jobs. The result? Sky-high unemployment, persistent poverty, and a growing chasm between the haves and the have-nots. The promise of freedom was so hard-won. It was sold out to the neoliberal economic trap. The people have been paying the price ever since.

South Africa’s economy is now deeply financialised, tethered to global markets, and dependent on foreign investment. This dependency breeds fear—fear of capital flight, fear of a rand crash, and fear of imported inflation. Policymakers tremble at the thought of bold spending. South Africa issues its own currency. The nation will wield it to transform lives. Instead, they act as if we’re a beggar nation. They seem held hostage by investor sentiment and the whims of international commentators like Moody’s and S&P.

These credit rating agencies, unelected and unaccountable, scream “reckless spending” every time debt rises even moderately, and our leaders bow. Corporate media, big banks, and Treasury officials amplify this narrative. They peddle the lie that austerity is the only path. This happens even when the economy handle more spending without collapsing. The sadness is overwhelming. The nation has the tools to save its people. Yet, it chooses to kneel before the neoliberal economic trap.

The Elite’s Game: Power, Profit, and Low Wages

The anger swells when we see who benefits from this betrayal. A real job guarantee and a surge in public investment would shift power from capital to labour. These changes would empower workers and raise wages. They would also give the unemployed dignity. But South Africa’s elite big business, the wealthy, and the connected will not allow it. High unemployment is their weapon, keeping wages low and workers desperate, forced to accept scraps to survive.

The rich profit from privatised services. They use private schools for their children, private healthcare for their families, and private security for their mansions. Meanwhile, they fight tooth and nail against expanded public options that would undercut their profits. The neoliberal economic trap serves them well, and they guard it fiercely.

Meanwhile, the unemployed suffer, their lives marked by hunger, hopelessness, and the daily indignity of being cast aside. Young South Africans, the future of this nation, face a 70% unemployment rate, their potential wasted, their spirits broken. The sadness is unbearable: a generation abandoned, left to fend for themselves in a system rigged against them. The government act. It fund public works. It guarantee jobs. It rebuild Eskom and SAA as public assets for the people. But it won’t. The elite’s grip is too tight, the neoliberal economic trap too entrenched. The anger burns hotter as we see the truth: this is not incompetence; this is a choice.

Technocrats and the Tyranny of “Prudence”

Who steers this sinking ship? Technocrats hold the reins of power in the Treasury, the SARB, and key institutions. They are trained in neoliberal economics at Washington-aligned universities. They dismiss progressive policies, job guarantees, and bold public investment as “irresponsible.” They cling to rigid frameworks like the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, which choke spending. Even well-meaning officials are trapped, bound by institutional rules and the fear of being labelled “populist”. The result? A policy paralysis that serves markets, not people. The sadness seeps in. We watch educated leaders, armed with degrees and data, choose dogma over humanity. They bow to the neoliberal economic trap while millions suffer.

Opposition parties like the Democratic Alliance (DA) and sections of the media fan the flames. They attack any hint of big public spending as “wasteful”. They peddle the myth that “there’s no money.” This lie is used to justify cutting social grants. It is used for freezing public sector wages and blaming a “bloated government” for all woes. Never mind the 30% unemployment rate. The 70% youth unemployment crisis is also ignored. These issues are buried under the rhetoric of “fiscal discipline”. The anger is palpable: how dare they dismiss the suffering of millions as a mere budgetary inconvenience? South Africa issues the rand; it can fund the solutions we need. But the neoliberal economic trap has convinced us otherwise, and the people pay the price.

A Nation Held Hostage, Without an IMF Letter

South Africa is not officially under an IMF programme, but it is as well be. The Treasury reduces budgets. It pushes the privatisation of Eskom and SAA. It bends to credit rating agencies, reinforcing a fiscal conservatism that strangles hope. Power outages affect our homes, industries, and lives. Instead of rebuilding Eskom for the public good, the solution proposed is to sell it off. SAA, once a symbol of national pride, is carved up for private gain. The sadness is crushing: a nation with the tools to fix its problems chooses instead to dismantle them. The influence of the neoliberal economic trap is pervasive. We act like a country under IMF orders. We slash and burn our way to “stability.” Meanwhile, the unemployed, the poor, and the young are left to drown.

The left, once a beacon of hope, is fragmented, weakened by infighting and a lack of vision. There’s no strong workers’ movement to demand change, no unified voice to challenge the status quo. The government, the opposition, and the media all sing the same tune, a dirge of austerity and market worship. The anger boils over. How can a nation born of struggle and resistance allow itself to be chained by the neoliberal economic trap? This nation once fought for justice. Where is the courage, the vision, the will to put people first?

This is not a household budget; the government can never ‘run out’ of rands because it creates them.

The Human Cost: Lives Shattered, Dreams Denied

Step back and see the human toll. Imagine a young woman. She is 22 years old, bright, and eager. Each day, she wakes up in a shack in Khayelitsha. She has no job, no prospects, and no way out. She’s one of millions, part of the 70% youth unemployment statistic that haunts this nation. Her parents are also jobless. They are part of the 30% unemployment crisis.

They scrape by on meagre grants or the charity of neighbours. Hunger gnaws at their bellies, despair at their hearts. The sadness is suffocating: a family, a community, a country abandoned by those with the power to act. South Africa fund jobs. It can build schools and clinics. It guarantee work for all. Yet, it won’t act, held back by the neoliberal economic trap.

The anger flares as we see the contrast. The wealthy thrive. Their children are in private schools. Their families live in gated estates. Their profits are soaring. Big business revels in low wages, cheap labour, and privatised services, while the masses suffer. The government, with the rand at its command, will break this cycle. It invest in the people. It shift power from capital to labour. But it chooses not to, paralysed by fear of markets, ratings, and the elite. The sadness and anger intertwine, a bitter knot in the gut of a nation that deserves better.

A Call to Break Free

South Africa stands at a breaking point. The neoliberal economic trap has held us hostage for too long. It prioritises markets over people. It favours austerity over action and profits over progress. We issue the rand. We have monetary sovereignty. We can spend to create jobs. We can rebuild our infrastructure. We can give our youth a future. Inflation can be managed through price controls.

Fixing supply chains is also a method. These approaches avoid the blunt, cruel tools of austerity and rate hikes that punish the poor. A job guarantee, public investment, and a rejection of privatisation: these are not dreams, but possibilities within our grasp.

The anger must fuel us. The sadness must move us. We, the people, must demand more more from the ANC, more from the Treasury, and more from the SARB. We must reject the myth of “no money”. We must reject the fear of “reckless spending”. We must reject the tyranny of the neoliberal economic trap. The left must unite, workers must rise, and citizens must roar: enough is enough. South Africa’s future hangs in the balance, and the time for timid half-measures is over. Will we break free, or will we let the elite and the markets bury us? The choice is ours, and the clock is ticking.

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