Junior Partner South Africa (II)

Newsletter 2010/06/09 - Junior Partner South Africa (II)

PRETORIA/BERLIN (Own report) - Government advisors in Berlin are recommending that measures be taken to stabilize South Africa's domestic situation. The democratic market economic order must be consolidated and processes of social disintegration combated, warns a recent study published by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). Otherwise South Africa's utility for the German economy will be as insecure as that country's role as a junior partner for German foreign policy. The gap between the poor and the rich could lead to a "radicalization" of the governing party and prompt it to make serious "encroachments into the market economy, particularly in regards to the right to private property." This must be thwarted through government programs to enhance job opportunities for the lower social strata or even through means of foreign cultural policy. Several of the SWP's proposals are already being implemented by the so-called German development policy. Berlin, for example, is supporting administrative reforms through which the poverty-stricken part of the population will have better prospects. Other projects have been implemented specifically in South Africa's preparation for the World Cup, but serve also long-term German interests.

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http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/56351