Zuma must face economy’s crisis state
Major powers must be held accountable
FINANCE Minister Pravin Gordhan heaved a huge sigh of relief and asked South Africans to celebrate when the country escaped another ratings downgrade by the skin of its teeth.
And they did just that on Black Friday. A clever US sales gimmick, it broke all records as South African shoppers went crazy, thronging the malls and shops, grabbing up bargains. (Black Friday broke all records, Sunday Tribune, December 4.) It is now firmly rooted in South African soil.
Matriculants started the celebrations when thousands of them descended on Durban for a week of wild partying. (It’s back to earth for matric ragers, Tribune, December 4)
Now droves of up-country tourists, brushing aside the political and economic gloom hanging over the country, are making the mad end-of-the-year dash for some fun in the sun and beach.
Durban expects another “bumper season” which may well surpass last year’s figures of 1.4 million visitors. If the predictions are correct, then it could boost the local economy.
But our joy may be short-lived. Our economy virtually ground to a halt in the third term, growing at a mediocre 0.2 percent. The rating agencies gave us a reprieve and did not reduce our country to junk status, but left us teetering precariously one notch above it.
In sharp contrast to his finance minister, President Jacob Zuma was unconcerned about the threat of a ratings downgrade. He had weightier issues on his mind – about growing threats to his presidency coming from his own party. He exposed his own ignorance when he said a ratings downgrade was not a big issue because other countries like Brazil and Russia also became junk economies and had survived.
It’s appalling for the leader of a nation to show such ignorance of economic matters.
We have been thrown a lifeline to get our economy on track again.
It’s time the government lifted its head from the sand and saw the serious risk a junk status poses to the country.
If not, the new year may bring a nasty hangover and we may regret our festive indulgence. Did Gordhan have too much whisky when he said we should celebrate? T MARKANDAN
Silverglen IT IS a pity that the major powers always scramble to wage wars and then abandon the victim countries. All the wars and attacks that were started by the US and its so-called allies in the wake of 9/11 have wreaked havoc.
You name it, you’ve got it: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, perhaps even Iran.
All the colonial powers employed the same policy and instigated civil wars to serve their nefarious objectives.
The fights in Syria, Iraq and Libya have already cost billions in resources, not to mention the deaths of thousands of people.
The developments achieved in these countries have been routed and the suffering of the ordinary people still continues.
Nato air strikes were responsible for the massive destruction of Libyan civilian and defensive military infrastructure, bombing ports, highways, warehouses, airports, hospitals, electrical and water plants and neighbourhood housing – all in a war on terror designed to turn the loyalist mass base against the Muammar Gaddafi government.
Libya was an independent country, pursuing a pro-African agenda which had spearheaded and funded the establishment of an independent regional bank and communications system designed to bypass IMF and World Bank control.
Libya had some of the highest standards of living in Africa and health care and education was free. Now the health-care system has all but collapsed and higher education is shutting down.
Libya has no single government or central authority which controls the nation, there is no security, oil revenues have halved and weapons flow out of the country.
People live in constant fear. Libya, as a country, has ceased to exist.
The rulers of Western regimes are directly responsible for destruction, death and dismemberment in Libya. They should be held accountable and charged with war crimes. NILOFAR DAWOOD
Sherwood