Evaluating the socioeconomic consequences of trade liberalisation and privatisation (1994–2024) in post-apartheid South Africa

This paper examines the impacts of trade liberalisation on employment, manufacturing production, and inequality in South Africa between 1994 and 2024. Since the democratisation process started, South Africa has been undergoing market-based reforms to open up its economy to the global system, lower tariffs and increase the competitiveness of its exports. Nevertheless, liberalisationliberalisation has been accompanied by a reduction in manufacturing capacity, unemployment, and growing inequality. The study employs a qualitative research approach, combined with trend analysis. The authors utilised statistical data and semi-structured interviews with 15 master students of political science. The manufacturing industry lost nearly 309,000 working places from 2005 to 2021, and its contribution to the GDP decreased to 13.2%, compared to 19.1% in the past. The Gini coefficient increased from 0.63 to 0.67, indicating entrenched inequality during the considered period. The causes of these trends, as identified by the qualitative insights, are: premature deindustrialisation, competition caused by imports, and poor industrial policy. The authors conclude that trade liberalisation, in the absence of vigorous state-directed industrial and labour policies, enhanced South Africa's structural vulnerability. It is suggested that a mixed economic system can balance openness and strategic reindustrialisation, the development of skills, and redistributive policies facilitating inclusive and sustainable economic growth.