COMMENT Let’s make it a better place

DEALING with bad news is never easy, even when the writing has been on the wall all along. It can be devastating, jarring or even paralysing at a time when one needs to stay calm, make sense of it and find ways to make things better. South Africa had to deal with another dose of bad news this week. Figures released by StatsSA confirm what we have known for a decade: our economy is not growing.

Economic output shrank by 2.2% in the first quarter, the biggest contraction quarter to quarter since 2009. While everyone knew our moribund economy had yet to come out of survival mode, the decrease was still devastating.