Straight-talking Dawie Roodt says penny finally dropping on BEE, labour legislation and job losses
South Africa’s economic chickens are coming home to roost. Economist Dawie Roodt warns that Black Economic Empowerment has enriched a politically connected elite while leaving the majority trapped in poverty. He says powerful trade unions are pricing workers out of jobs and strangling productivity, while the state is failing in its most basic duty to keep citizens safe. For Roodt, the penny is finally dropping - South Africans are waking up to the link between bad policy, job losses, and a shrinking economy.
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Timestamps from the interview
00:00 – South Africans starting to join the dots
00:41 – The Economist slams BEE, says it makes SA poorer
01:39 – Dawie on BEE: “Black Billionaire Empowerment”
03:55 – Did Ramaphosa create wealth or just benefit from deals?
05:30 – Real empowerment: skills, education, infrastructure, safety
07:13 – State failure and the broken social pact
09:18 – General Mkhwanazi calls out unions and wage hikes
11:22 – Dawie warns: unions have too much power
13:15 – Teachers overpaid, education outcomes collapsing
15:13 – Military meddling and SA’s fragile political stability
17:34 – Coup unlikely, but political collapse a risk
18:18 – Foreign investors chasing SA’s high bond yields
20:15 – Why SA’s markets still attract global money
21:03 – The wealth effect of a competent government
22:19 – Dawie sees hope: South Africans talking to each other
23:04 – Closing thoughts: better times possible if we act