BRONWYN NORTJE: Spending money we don't have
Ramaphosa's stance on SAA undermines Treasury and casts doubt on SA's sovereign sustainability
I was staggered by President Cyril Ramaphosa's comments about SAA in parliament this week. By directly contradicting comments made by finance minister Tito Mboweni that the ailing state airline should be shut down, he undermined both the Treasury and the minister, and once again cast doubt on SA's sovereign sustainability. Worst of all, he made it abundantly clear that political expedience will be favoured over economic stability until the national elections next year. Regrettably, it is not just the president whose forked tongue is putting our fiscal sovereignty at risk for the sake of political expedience. Last week, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi came out with a garbled message that although there have been "delays in implementing the National Health Insurance (NHI)", it was still "going ahead as scheduled". His comments came in the context of explaining how budget cuts have forced him to reprioritise spending within the health department and how money allocated for the NHI has...
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