RECOVERY STRATEGY
…Govt must get its act together to be able to drive SA’s economic recovery, says Godongwana
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.
JOHANNESBURG – Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana says the South African government has to improve on its implementation of policies and structural reforms if it hoped to deliver on the promise of economic recovery.
Godongwana was addressing the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) event on the state of the economy.
The address comes weeks before what will be Godongwana’s parliamentary joint sitting debut, as he is set to table the medium-term budget policy statement in early November.
Since his appointment as finance minister by President Cyril Ramaphosa in August, Godongwana – who also chairs the ANC’s economic transformation committee – has given signals that he would lead the Treasury with a decidedly business-friendly approach.
Unions, especially those aligned with the ANC’s labour ally, trade union federation Cosatu, have urged Godongwana to put a halt to policies they view to be at the expense of workers and South Africans, including government’s effort to curtail the rise of the public service wage bill.
Godongwana said rather than recount the problems South Africa faces, it was important to put “recovery and reconstruction” front of mind on the agenda. He said South Africa needs common engagement on the things the country hopes to achieve.
“If we can take a lesson from Covid-19, South Africans across the board, with civil society, government and business worked together without a single document being drafted. We need to figure out how to get that level of commitment and channel that towards our recovery,” said Godongwana.
Godongwana said there was a general consensus that South Africa needed to make structural reforms, even though the details were contentious.
Regarding underspending on Covid-19 interventions, Godongwana said government had to sharpen its implementation of interventions as well as tracking the outcomes thereof.
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter, in the wake of a week-long bout of state 2 load shedding, gave a blunt account of the state of the power utility at the SAJBD event.
He said the technically insolvent business found itself in a difficult position, but that from the ashes of this predicament, the catalyst for economic growth could rise. – FIN24.
