MARK BARNES: SA can — and should — avoid the IMF option

Let’s not go to the IMF. That would be like business rescue for the country. Unlike bankruptcy, business rescue is for those companies that are distressed but thought capable of rehabilitation under supervision, with rules. The IMF conditions are harsh, essentially removing sovereignty. We’d be back on pocket money!

It’s better than going insolvent, and creditors may well get more than they would’ve under forced sale conditions, but the shareholders seldom, if ever, get anything. In SA Inc we, the people, are the “shareholders” — all of us, the citizens of our sovereign state, our country...