President must stop his constant delaying

EVERYTHING the president has done to the economy hasn’t worked.

Since last year, the gross domestic product has declined drastically. This year, the economy shed almost 200 000 jobs and the GDP declined by 3.2%, which means the unemployment rate is actually 42% to 44%.

State-owned entities require a combined R300 billion bailout to function.

South Africa needs a decisive shift in government policies; the country needs fiscal stimulus for about R550bn and monetary stimulus, whereby the Reserve Bank will be willing to aggressively cut interest rates or where compassion is shown towards the poor and marginalised, as they are the ones feeling the pinch the most.

During the 2019 State of the Nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that if Eskom defaulted on its loans, it would cause a cross-default on its remaining debt and would have a huge impact on the constrained fiscus. He said the government would, therefore, urgently table a special appropriation bill, to allocate a significant portion of the R230bn that Eskom would require over the next 10 years. As Eskom is so vital to our economy, it couldn’t be allowed to fail.

The government has long been pumping money into Eskom without strategies in place to turn around the entity. Throwing money at state-owned entities should be done along with value-adding strategies. Every day the president delays taking tough decisions our economy worsens. KATLEGO KHOMO | Roodepoort