WATCH | Mbeki sounds alarm on unemployment, poverty, inequality in SA

Mbeki

Cape Town – Former President Thabo Mbeki has expressed concerns about South Africa’s escalating unemployment, poverty, and inequality, criticising the government’s failure to address these issues effectively.

Speaking at an ANC event in the Western Cape, Mbeki highlighted that the social compact designed to tackle these challenges had been abandoned.

He criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2022 promise of a new social compact, which he claimed had not been delivered, and warned that addressing only a small fraction of the compact would not solve the country’s problems.

“Practically, the social compact has been abundant. what that means, comrades is that there is no program to address these challenges of unemployment, poverty, it doesn’t exist.

“The President was talking the other day about launching a second phase of a partnership between government and business. That second phase is addressing a fraction, maybe 5% of what was part of the social compact. You abandon the 95% and implement 5% it’s not going to solve our problems of unemployment or poverty and all of that,” Mbeki said.

Mbeki also addressed the state of the police in South Africa, calling for a reformed police system that serves the people, not a militarised force.

“The police  must be South African police service, not a police force and demilitarise the ranks Historically, the police here are enemies of the people. They are the ones who are shooting people in Soweto, locking up people in Langa wherever.”

He added: “A democratic South Africa, needs a new police system, which is a friend of the people. So it’s a police service, not a police force. And it does not have generals, it has commissioners.”

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