Malusi Gigaba’s ‘radical’ U-turn
If a week is a long time in politics, a month seems to be an eternity when it comes to matters of policy — specifically, when it comes to ‘radical economic transformation’, as opposed to ‘inclusive growth’
Finance minister Malusi Gigaba seems to want to be Pravin Gordhan. In recent days Gigaba seems to have adopted, virtually wholesale, his predecessor’s rhetoric and policies. Given the rand’s recovery (clawing back 50c of the R1.50 it lost against the dollar), it seems investors are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Wooing a small group of investors at the Development Bank of Southern Africa in Midrand last week, Gigaba dropped President Jacob Zuma’s "radical economic transformation" catchphrase in favour of "inclusive growth" — a nuance that will be appreciated by asset managers, if not leftists in the ANC. Tellingly, it’s the same position Gordhan held during his tenure since December 2015. Gigaba seems to have learnt from his first media briefing in the finance minister’s chair, when he mentioned "radical economic transformation" a few times. The rand fell after that briefing, which seems to have dimmed Gigaba’s appetite for the term. It’s somewhat ironic, considering ...
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