STUART THEOBALD: Tightrope between data and presidential whim
Being a finance minister at this juncture requires a truly great leader
Spare a thought for Malusi Gigaba. He has become finance minister at the worst time to have the job since the 1985 debt default that marked the apartheid government’s financial collapse. Government finances are in a serious state. The all-important debt-to-GDP ratio is already at its highest in modern history and is predicted to continue to worsen until at least 2022, according to the government’s own forecasts. There is going to be a R50bn tax shortfall this year. Economic growth of 0.7% is far behind the world average, when it should be riding a commodity-driven recovery. SA is about to be downgraded to junk, a status it hasn’t seen since the 1990s. On average, South Africans have been getting poorer for three years in a row and there’s no respite in sight. The president, who holds Gigaba’s political future in his hands, keeps telling people the country is going to invest in nuclear energy and, latterly, pay for free higher education. Other members of the Cabinet openly and public...
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