Bleak future outlook for economy

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and his deputy Sfiso Buthelezi held a press briefing on Friday, ostensibly to put forward the government’s action plan on resuscitating the spluttering economy.

This came just days after the third ratings agency Moody’s, had downgraded our sovereign credit rating to just a notch above junk status. S&P Global and Fitch have downgraded our sovereign credit rating to junk status.

Further making things difficult for the Treasury pair was the fact that the economy is now in a technical recession, meaning the economy is contracting.

Instead of the massed media listening to the government’s rescue plan, the bulk of the questions focused on the duo’s alleged links to grand corruption.

Buthelezi had to spend an inordinate amount of time strenuously defending himself against charges that when he was chairman of the state-owned Passenger Rail Service of SA, he presided over corrupt deals.

Gigaba, accused of facilitating the business deals of the Gupta family, close friends of President Jacob Zuma and his son Duduzane, mounted a spirited defence of his reputation. He tried to explain away incriminating e-mails linking him to suspect conduct in his previous ministerial roles at public enterprises and home affairs.

Their attempts to defend themselves all seemed in vain, and therein lies our difficulty as a country. The stark reality is that the suspicion of corruption in connection with the two men and the manner in which Zuma appointed them has meant that they were compromised even before they stepped into their critical jobs.

The view of the private sector and many South Africans, not necessarily the majority, speculate that the chief reason they were appointed was to facilitate the plundering of resources by Zuma, his family and business associates.

Given the suspicion with which they are regarded in business circles, whose partnership and cooperation they need to revive the economy, it does not appear they are in a position to change our situation for the better. Which would suggest SA won’t be able to make any meaningful change until Zuma, the primary source of all the mistrust and suspicion, vacates the presidency in two years.

A depressing thought indeed.