THENEWSOUTHAFRICA
on welfare. That would be a difficult and risky policy. It would involve
opening South Africa to the global market and exposing South African in-
dustry to foreign competition. This would oblige industry to stand firm
against demands for higher wages, to slim the workforce, and to make
greater use of high technology; and this, in turn, would increase the al-
ready vast numbers of the unemployed. If the Mandela government, how-
ever, had concentrated on improving the living conditions of the masses, it
would have rapidly exhausted its financial resources and neglected the
structural reforms that were essential for growth.t?
Understandably, the Mandela government tried to do both things at
once. During the run-up to the 1994 election, the ANC issued a Recon-
struction and Development Program (RDP), which became the official
policy of the government of national unity. Government and the private
sector were to cooperate in creating jobs through public works; three hun-
dred thousand houses were to be built each year; all South Africans were
to have access to clean water, sanitation, and electricity; health, education,
and welfare services were to be improved; and 30 percent of the land was
to be redistributed to Blacks. This ambitious program aroused great ex-