Daily Dispatch

Legacy of paying for JZ’s crimes

YESTERDAY, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba delivered a medium-term budget policy statement which was frank in tone and delivery.

It was depressing all at the same time. But it was a speech which suggested that the minister fully grasps the precarious and distressing situation that our economy finds itself in. And if the response by the rand is anything to go by, it means that there is no more time for fiddling while Rome burns.

The local currency lost 26 cents during Gigaba’s speech where he revealed that the national debt will reach a shocking 60% of GDP by 2020. That is a whopping R3.4-trillion.

This means that the government will have to borrow more if it is to meet its policy promises and obligations. Tied to this is the projected decline in government revenue as tax income is expected to fall short of earlier projections.

This is testimony to the gross mismanagement of our economy by President Jacob Zuma and his corrupt friends.

The government’s expansionary fiscal policy, coupled with the siphoning of billions by Zuma and his Gupta cronies, has brought us this far. And if we are to turn around our situation, government wastage, looting of the state and rampant corruption will have to be dealt with. There is also growing uncertainty around the country’s policy and political stability as the ANC prepares for its December national congress, where Zuma’s successor will be elected.

Unfortunately, it will be the future generations who will be lumped with the national debt. Long after Zuma is gone, South Africans will have to carry the burden. It happened to Nelson Mandela who – while the world toasted him and placed him on a pedestal – was still expected to pay the immoral debt of the apartheid years.

It is déjà vu. We will be expected to pay the crimes of the Zumas and their Gupta cronies. While Gigaba talked tough on financial mismanagement and corruption in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) he still managed to announce further bailouts for the struggling SOEs – the South African Airways and the South African Post Office.

These two entities, like Eskom, did not just find themselves in this dire situation. It is as a result of the rampant corruption and mismanagement and maladministration which has been allowed to fester during the Zuma years.

As Gigaba delivered his speech and painted an economy which was in need of a serious boost, it seemed as though he was addressing his boss, Zuma

“It is not in the public interest, nor is it in the interest of government, to sugar-coat the state of our economy and the challenges we are facing.

“. . . heightened economic anxiety and languishing confidence can become entrenched, often making it difficult to reach and sustain growth over the long-term, creating a vicious cycle of low growth, low investment, unemployment and thus reduced government revenues and reduced government spending,” said Gigaba.

But whether Zuma understood or was even listening to anything that Gigaba said, is another story altogether.