5 Comments

Interesting article, well done.

Could you inform me in more detail on the facts mentioned in your paragraph: "The Americans and the Chinese have spent the past ten years carving up the carcass of our local productive forces, with China replacing much of our manufacturing, and the West seizing our digital retail market and food production."

Don't feel the need to elaborate extensively, I just want to gather information on:

1. China's influence on SA manufacturing

2. Western influence on SA food production

Thanks in advance, Bodo

Expand full comment

Well our domestic manufacturing has collapsed, and Chinese companies are setting up shop. Hisense has a major factory in the Atlantis SEZ, Chinese companies are scooping up power contracts, and there are a lot of finished aluminium products making their way in. But also, they have an enormous footprint on the low-end retail stuff, but that's true almost everywhere, and is mostly imported rather than locally produced. The Limpopo SEZ is a really interesting phenomenon - effictively a colony funded by taxpayers.

With America and food, the main culprit is PepsiCo buying out Pioneer Foods, which has a huge market share.

This is all the thin end of the wedge, but with our domestic manufacturing having been hollowed out over the past couple of decades and the state opening up a lot of public service contracts, we are seeing an increase in FDI, especially now that the geopol competition is heating up

Expand full comment

Thank you, I appreciate it!

Expand full comment

Could there be a redo? Could the DA withdraw from the GNU along with some like-minded parties and go back to being the opposition? Surely they must have foreseen the current scenario.

Expand full comment

I'm not sure, but it certainly can't happen now that they're investing so much media graft into their present efforts

They had a little window for pulling out a few weeks ago, and might have another opportunity soon, but I think they want to hang about long enough to assist CR in removing Mashatile

Also, they are under pressure from donors, and the current arrangement in Zille's life's work, so I think they're pretty much stuck in

Expand full comment