OSAGYEFO MAZWAI: A good story for SA is being written

When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his cabinet a few weeks ago, the nation ought to have taken a moment to reflect on the remarkable milestone achieved by the team of government of national unity (GNU) negotiators, which was an achievement of historic proportions, in my view.

The volatility in financial markets following the elections was a strong indicator of the importance of the balancing act required across the political spectrum over the weeks that were to come. SA has faced several challenges over the last two decades, and the outcomes of the elections would have inherently been met with a sense of pessimism over whether SA could rise to the occasion, and later disbelief that our country could rise to the occasion in the way it has.  

The formation of the GNU requires the accommodation of a large number of political interests that are part of the GNU agreement. To put this into perspective, the recently concluded cabinet lekgotla had the task of balancing the interests of the seven political parties represented in cabinet and the 10 parties more broadly represented in the GNU as they set out the key priorities of the seventh administration.

To some extent the sixth administration (ANC government) must have been acutely aware that there were downside risks to the performance of the ANC in the national and provincial government elections. This increased the risk that there may be multiple partners to the incoming government, each seeking to fulfil their own defined mandates, which would inevitably require sufficient budget to deliver. This is perhaps why the idea of a fiscal anchor was re-introduced in the February 2024 budget speech by finance minister Enoch Godongwana.  

That is the context, and now begins the story.  

The first chapter of the good story unfolding should tell of how the negotiators rose to the occasion. Across many developed markets we have seen various volatile negotiations, particularly in Europe, to form coalition governments, which can take many months to finalise. Take a moment to acknowledge that SA concluded the important aspects of the GNU negotiations in less than a month and has been able to appoint a cabinet. Elections, by their very nature, are volatile settings that can reshape the trajectory of nations, and this year in particular has been a critical juncture for global politics.

The nascent risks to elections are big swings in the ideological thinking of the central government whether on foreign policy, economic policy or geopolitical alignment. Shortly after the election of the president of Argentina the country indicated that it no longer intended to join Brics, for example. We have similarly seen swings in the EU, France, the UK and India, among others. India faced the same fate as SA as far as the majority party falling below the 50% plus one threshold was concerned.  

Included in the first chapter is the story of how the elections were free and fair, and without political violence and protests, despite a historic swing in the outcome itself. Disinformation campaigns on X did seek to thwart the overall democratic project in SA by suggesting rigged election results and imperialistic influence over them. But the country again proved its resilience and commitment to constitutionality and the rule of law by moving past that.   

The next chapter of the story should be about the people’s calling the cabinet to action. The cabinet now has the job of putting political differences aside and getting on with the business of running the country. We remain sensitive to the various “political” agendas of each party, but the populace’s call is for economic growth, job creation, improvement of the standard of living and a better overall quality of life. 

The stage has already been set for the structural constraints on the economy to become structural enablers. Eskom and Transnet have been on a sustained upward trajectory over the last few months. Eskom in particular is a story to behold given the strides made by electricity and energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and the new leadership. The story of our structural reform programme through “Operation Vulindlela”, institutional independence and so on must go on as it will take time for the propellers to kick into full flight. 

Commentary by public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson on turning SA into a construction site is encouraging. His comments equate to enhanced infrastructure investment, which leads to more jobs, increased competitiveness, lower costs of doing business and increased business confidence, among others. One hopes his sentiments will be shared across the different spheres of government, particularly at a local government level where the challenges of free-flowing infrastructure networks to economic hubs and export corridors are most pronounced. The ministers responsible for education, health, agriculture, trade and industrial policy, fiscal policy, transport and our SOEs, among others, should move forward with the same vigour.  

SA is poised to tell a very good story over the coming years. We cannot ignore that the road may be long and challenging, but the destination is somewhat of a promised land. Structurally higher economic growth of above 2% is not outside the realm of possibility, which will be accompanied by many positive outcomes as posited in Business Day by Fani Titi and Cumesh Moodliar recently (“The path to prosperity is clear — let’s take it,” July 2).

That, together with broad-based service delivery and the improvement of the quality of life of South Africans, led by government action, will be among the achievements that will define the legacy of the current administration.   

• Mazwai is investment strategist at Investec Wealth & Investment International.