Geordin Hill-Lewis, the leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), says South Africa faces a stark economic choice between continued state control and a growth-led reform agenda focused on jobs, investment, clean government, and delivery.

He was writing in his weekly newsletter this weekend about the recent “Conference of the Left” in Boksburg, which he said was a reminder of the economic ideas he believes have held South Africa back.

The conference was organised by the South African Communist Party and included the Economic Freedom Fighters, uMkhonto weSizwe Party, trade unions, and other left-wing organisations.

Hill-Lewis said most South Africans would not notice the conference because they were too busy dealing with the pressures of the real economy, including finding work, keeping the lights on, paying rent, feeding their families, and securing a better future for their children.

He argued that the gathering reflected “the old politics of the 20th century”, which he described as a politics of greater state control, nationalisation, bureaucracy, hostility to business, and faith in central planning.

Hill-Lewis said the deeper divide in South African politics was between those who believe prosperity is created by the state directing society from above, and those who believe it is created when individuals, communities, and businesses are given room to work, invest, build, and flourish.

He said the consequences of African National Congress (ANC)-style economic thinking were visible across the country. Official unemployment stands at 32.7%, with 8.1 million South Africans unemployed. He also said average income per person remains below its 2007 level.

The DA leader said South Africa could not afford another decade of failed ideas or timid reform. He criticised the ANC for moving too slowly and not going far enough to free the economy.

He contrasted this with the DA’s record in government, pointing to the Western Cape, where the DA has governed since 2009, as evidence that cleaner and more competent government could produce better outcomes.

He also said the Western Cape had the lowest unemployment rate in the country, crediting this to investment, better-run municipalities, infrastructure delivery, and basic services that enabled businesses to grow.

Hill-Lewis said while DA governments in the Western Cape and various municipalities around the country did not control national policy levers such as ports, rail, policing, energy regulation, labour law, or tax policy, they had shown what was possible when government was clean, competent, and focused on delivery.

Hill-Lewis said the Government of National Unity, of which the DA is part, needed to move faster and with greater urgency to remake the state so that it supported growth rather than smothering it.

He said a DA-led national government would place growth and jobs at the centre of policy, make it easier to start and grow businesses, open the economy to investment, fix infrastructure, end cadre deployment, and build a state that served citizens rather than politicians.

The message was also a political appeal to voters who believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.

Hill-Lewis said many South Africans had lost hope because of unemployment, crime, corruption, and decay, but argued that change remained possible.

His central claim was that South Africa could still be fixed if it chose the politics of growth, delivery, and clean government over state control and left-wing economic orthodoxy.