IN-DEPTH
How Malusi Gigaba is ready to tackle fiscal fiasco
The finance minister has so far made a good show of being indecisive. He says that’s going to change
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba sits with some sizeable problems: a stagnant economy, rising debt, a huge revenue shortfall, the risk of a default by Eskom, a national airline bleeding cash and the threat of a ratings downgrade by Moody’s Investor Service at the end of February. Add to this his credibility problem — SA has been downgraded twice by Standard & Poors Global and once by Fitch since he became minister in March — and the political adventurism of President Jacob Zuma, who put him there, and he is in a difficult situation indeed. His first response, as he faced the medium-term budget policy statement in October, was not to act. For that he has been punished by the ratings agencies and investors. Now back from a three-continent investor roadshow, Gigaba has been galvanised into decisiveness. "My view is we need to take the difficult decisions and take them now," he said in an interview on Friday. "Any further delay is going to be felt immediately. We need to decrease the budg...
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