ZUMA ATTACKS TREASURY
Treasury says to be stumbling block
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma hit out at the National Treasury at the ANC’s lekgotla at the weekend for frustrating the “radical economic transformation” agenda the party had agreed to.
This comes amid calls from structures in the ANC for the removal of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
It also comes as Treasury is seen as a stumbling block to the implementation of critical projects favoured by the president, including the nuclear build programme.
According to sources who attended the lekgotla, Zuma criticised Treasury for saying there was no money for certain projects and that ministers were constantly complaining about being inadequately resourced to carry out their mandates.
Zuma’s allies – ANC Youth League, and the party’s North West and Free State leadership – came out strongly against Treasury.
They argued that ministers who failed to implement ANC decisions should be removed.
A source said there was a “political package” put together by the ANC to bring about a “radical economic transformation” that relates to the structure of the economy and to ownership.
“... it’s not just the SA Treasury that would say there is no money, it’s a global thing.
Treasury has to protect the fiscus and it’s their job, but it becomes a problem when there is not an understanding that there is a political package that needs to be funded.
“It doesn’t make sense to really hold so much and be almost mean in terms of your trying to control the fiscus, and then you end up not delivering on what you want to deliver.”
Another source sympathetic to Treasury said the budget was a “participatory process” in which cabinet participated and that these “people think money grows on trees”.
“When there is low growth, it’s simple ... you have to borrow money or tax more,” the source said.
Currently, the government spends too much money on staff and this was the “elephant in the room”.
Sources opposing Zuma said this was preparing the ground for changes in Treasury – which are likely to be further elaborated in discussion documents in preparation for the party’s policy conference.
Another said it could be “preparing the ground” for removing the minister or his deputy.
In the run-up to the lekgotla, the ANC Youth League in eThekwini and at the national level called for Gordhan’s removal.
The discussion from the ANC lekgotla will be carried forward in the cabinet lekgotla that started yesterday.
Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe told reporters ahead of the meeting it would strongly focus on the economy.
The discussion will include looking at the progress on the implementation of the nine-point plan and the infrastructure development plan to boost economic growth.