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Critics warn NDR could hinder SA s progress Zandile.Khumalo Tue, 12/09/2025 - 10:48 JOHANNESBURG – President Cyril Ramaphosa has reaffirmed the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) as the central political strategy guiding the ANC and its alliance partners.He made the remarks during his party-political report on Monday, the opening day of the ANC’s National General Council.However, the Institute for Race Relations (IRR) argues that as long as the NDR remains the foundation of policymaking, South Africa will not achieve meaningful success.IRR’s Hermann Pretorius says inequality among black South Africans has worsened under policies linked to the NDR.Pretorius called it “astonishing” to see a “billionaire president” and other “millionaires” lamenting the suffering of black South Africans while “supporting the very NDR policies that have allowed fake transformation to enrich a very small elite few”.He said there have been long-standing warnings about this trend.“Mbeki warned of this as early as 2009. Recently, Professor William Gumede has argued that a trillion rand has been shared between 100 legal and juristic persons as a result of BEE.“So if we are looking at inequality, failures to make progress, and the inability of black South Africans to escape the poverty apartheid forced them into, we see no meaningful progression despite claims of progressive policies,” Pretorius said.He added that if the country is serious about transformation, then “real transformation” is needed, arguing the NDR has “proven it really doesn’t work” after decades of implementation. The South African Communist Party (SACP) has firmly rejected the IRR’s assessment.SACP spokesperson Mbulelo Mandlana dismissed the claim that the NDR is responsible for South Africa’s governance failures.He says the NDR has been the guiding programme since the alliance was formed, and that the national liberation project itself is a product of the NDR.Mandlana argues that much of the country’s progress up to the 2009 global financial crisis is attributable to the NDR.He also accused Pretorius of selectively applying history to suit his narrative.“The NDR cannot be allocated only to certain periods that benefit Pretorius’s argument and ignored during periods that don’t. He must either criticise the NDR in its totality or praise it in its totality. He cannot make an opportunistic argument,” Mandlana said.

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