London-based economics consultancy Capital Economics responded to the ANC’s election drubbing by warning that this will be reflected in this week’s mini budget in a likely weakening of the National Treasury’s fiscal resolve, causing bond yields to grind higher.

I completely disagree. Having covered almost 20 consecutive SA national budgets I can almost guarantee that the Treasury will present a conservative medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) that holds the line on debt stabilisation and rejects a big ramp-up in social spending...