A perusal of the business press shows that mainstream economists hardly speak with a single voice. Not being privy to these controversies, the general public would hardly believe the range of alternatives being presented. Any debate about alternatives invariably carries a degree of uncertainty. This uncertainty is almost a matter of definition in cases where radical alternatives are being considered. Being radical almost certainly means that the alternatives are more or less untested.
Uncertainty is a necessary feature of the untested.
However, the debate on alternative economic policies, that do not make us all hostage to foreign capital, can firmly be anchored to three certainties. Those who would be apocalyptic in their warnings of the consequences for democratic South Africa if the government, on grounds of morality and justice, were unilaterally to repudiate the foreign debt, forget one over-riding fact. As always workers and the huge segment of the marginalised suffered most. But the economy did survive. This is the first certainty anchoring the debate on alternatives.