All on board as cabinet mulls Mboweni paper

An extended cabinet, including deputy ministers, met for a special meeting on Thursday to discuss finance minister Tito Mboweni’s paper on how to stimulate economic growth.

The Treasury released the policy paper at the end of August for public comment, prompting support from business and opposition from labour, including from the ANC’s alliance partners Cosatu and the SACP.

Minister in the presidency Jackson Mthembu said at a media briefing on Thursday more than 700 submissions were made. It would be up to the cabinet as to how to take the matter forward. “We believe we have made strides [in discussing the paper],” he said.

Mthembu recognised the importance of the implementation of policies, the failure of which has been a point of criticism. President Cyril Ramaphosa, he added, had emphasised implementation himself.

The integrated resource plan, which will determine SA’s energy sources in the decades to come was still before the cabinet and discussions had not been concluded yet. He expected it to be finalised soon.

The consolidation of SA’s three airlines SAA, Mango and SA Express was still before cabinet as well and was discussed last week by a cabinet committee. The paper on the future of Eskom had not come before the cabinet yet.

The cabinet approved the release of a 25-year review report which assesses progress made by the government in delivering a better life for all.

Led by the department of planning, monitoring & evaluation, it entailed consultations with various stakeholders such as business, labour, academics, nongovernmental organisations and various government departments. Colloquiums were also held with eminent people from the rest of Africa.

“The report highlights areas of progress such as universal access to basic education; expansion of higher education; access to free health services in the public sector and the implementation of the social wage,” Mthembu said.

“It also highlights several challenges which impede our adequate response to unemployment, poverty alleviation and inequality. Key to these challenges is our inability to address the structural dimension of the country’s economy.”

Ramaphosa will officially launch the report in due course.

The cabinet also approved the SA 2019 sustainable development goals report to the UN and discussed the recent attacks on women and foreigners.