2019年经济学人 南非新任总统是否能带来光亮时刻(2)（在线收听）

Noone doubts that Mr. Ramaphosa sincerely wishes to uprootcorruption. And his hiring of honest cops and prosecutors is an essential step in that direction. But he will struggle unless he also tackles some of the underlying enablers of graft. One problem is that many in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) believe that the party should control all the levers of power, and that the government should control “strategic” sectors such as powerplants, railways and ports.

拉马福萨根除腐败的诚心毋庸置疑。雇佣诚信的警察和检察官是朝这个方向迈出的重要一步。但除非根除腐败的背后因素，否则接下来将举步维艰。一个问题是，执政党非洲人国民大会中的许多人认为，该党应该控制所有的权力杠杆，政府应该控制发电厂、铁路和港口等“战略性”行业。

Atradition of “deploying” party loyalists to run state-owned firms transmogrified, under Mr Zuma, into a habit of planting cronies into positions that enabled them to steal. The leftists in the governing coalition still say South Africa needs a “developmental” state to steer investment. In fact, state interference has repelled investment. By one estimate, had Mr Zuma been a benign steward, the economy would be 25% bigger.

在祖玛领导下，“部署”党的忠诚分子经营国有企业，已经改变了南非的习惯，即在让他们在关键位置上任人唯亲。执政联盟中的左翼人士仍表示，南非需要“发展型”国家来引导投资。而事实上，政府的干预阻碍了投资。据估计，如果祖玛是一位好的领导人，南非经济将会增长25%。

Mr Ramaphosa plans to split Eskom into generation, distribution and transmission businesses to make it clearer which bits are losing money. He should go further. The state should not be generating power at all. It should break up and sell Eskom, and regulate the companies that buy it. The same goes for the state firms that run airports, fly planes and dig up diamonds.

拉马福萨计划将Eskom的业务拆分为发电、分销和传输，以明确哪些业务正在亏损。他应该走得更远。国家根本就不应发电。而应拆分并出售Eskom，并监管买方。经营机场、驾驶飞机和开采钻石的国有企业也是如此。

There is a risk that privatisation could be corrupted. State assets could be transferred cheaply and opaquely to ANC bigwigs claiming to promote “black economic empowerment”, just as private assets have been in the past. However, this risk can be mitigated if assets are sold via transparent auctions and the markets thus created are regulated properly. Also, consumers will have to start paying their electricity bills, something many have grown used to avoiding. If Mr Ramaphosa wants to be remembered as the president who turned the lights back on, he will need to harness the power of the market.

私有化存在腐败的风险。国有资产可以廉价而不透明地转移给非国大的权贵们，并声称要促进“黑人经济赋权”，正如过去的私有财产。然而，如果通过透明拍卖出售资产，并对由此创建的市场进行适当监管，可以缓解这种风险。此外，消费者将不得不开始支付电费，而很多人早就习惯了不交电费。如果拉马福萨希望人民记住他作为总统为大家打开了灯，那么将需要利用市场的力量。