Publications
Partners
CURRENTLY, I cannot say whether South Africans are a nation that looks on the bright or the dark side of life.
But what I can say is that at present is there is no doubt that we have been forced to look on the dark side of things by the prevalent political and economic conditions.
Looking at the way things are going in the country, it is hard to tell where economic growth and jobs will come from in the future.
This week, newspapers were awash with news stories painting a gloomy picture of the country’s economic future.
This came from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and rating agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s (S&P).
But our beloved President Jacob Zuma opted to reshuffle his cabinet and did not even attempt to talk about issues raised by these global bodies.
I have a feeling that the president thinks our international economic ratings will correct without him doing anything about it. That is not the right thinking, I must say.
On Tuesday this week, the IMF significantly cut South Africa’s economic growth predictions to 2% for 2013 from a 2.8% outlook in April.
This is in keeping with local predictions. Most local institutions have lowered their outlook following much weaker than expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first quarter.
The IMF gave South Africa’s domestic struggles - like the wildcat strikes in the mining sector and falling commodity prices - as its reason for slashing GDP growth figures.
Additionally, this week S&P said in its South African Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment that local banks would see increasing credit losses in the next 18 to 24 months.
The rating agency said there will also be weakening asset quality in unsecured lending that will negate any real estate market improvement when it comes to the banks’ loan books.
This is indeed a dreary picture that has been painted here. The same picture was also painted by another global rating agency Moody’s this week.
We know that South African politics are dysfunctional.
But after a week in which Zuma showed that he was more obsessed with the ANC winning votes in next year’s elections than what most voters care about, it is appropriate to say there is something terribly wrong with South Africa’s democracy.
Voters are more concerned about jobs, incomes, economic growth and education, and the gloomy picture being painted by global agencies means goals in these areas may not be met.
And Zuma could be wasting his and our time with his economic blueprint, the National Development Plan (NDP).
In other words, Zuma is also not even aware that the votes that he is chasing for his party may not be achieved if he fails to correct problems these bodies have raised.
But Zuma has ignored these agencies' warnings and instead went for a very dubious fourth cabinet reshuffle in a short space of time.
I think he should have called a press conference and unveiled an urgent strategy to tackle the depressed economic outlook.
Rising bad debts could force banks to embark on cost management, and this means retrenchments which will negatively impact on economic growth.
Zuma recently told a press briefing that South Africa needs faster growth and a stable, growing mining sector.
He said South Africa’s pace of economic growth has to speed up over the rest of this year to achieve the official goal of 2.7% growth this year.
But the latest official information shows that this will not happen, and what does he do about this?
He fires Tokyo Sexwale from heading the ministry of human settlements, because Sexwale did not support him in Mangaung.
This is being truly petty and shows that he cares much more about settling scores than the wellbeing of the country.
Sexwale recently made an appearance at an SABC/The New Age Breakfast meeting, and came across as someone who was clued up with what he was doing at the ministry.
Even journalist friends of mine were impressed by Sexwale’s performance on the day.
He did not talk only about what his department was planning to do, like Zuma’s beloved ministers usually do. He told us what they have achieved.
South Africans have no choice but to look on the dark side of life at this stage.
It never rains but it pours for South Africa.
- Fin24
*Mzwandile Jacks is a freelance journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.
But what I can say is that at present is there is no doubt that we have been forced to look on the dark side of things by the prevalent political and economic conditions.
Looking at the way things are going in the country, it is hard to tell where economic growth and jobs will come from in the future.
This week, newspapers were awash with news stories painting a gloomy picture of the country’s economic future.
This came from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and rating agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s (S&P).
But our beloved President Jacob Zuma opted to reshuffle his cabinet and did not even attempt to talk about issues raised by these global bodies.
I have a feeling that the president thinks our international economic ratings will correct without him doing anything about it. That is not the right thinking, I must say.
On Tuesday this week, the IMF significantly cut South Africa’s economic growth predictions to 2% for 2013 from a 2.8% outlook in April.
This is in keeping with local predictions. Most local institutions have lowered their outlook following much weaker than expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first quarter.
The IMF gave South Africa’s domestic struggles - like the wildcat strikes in the mining sector and falling commodity prices - as its reason for slashing GDP growth figures.
Additionally, this week S&P said in its South African Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment that local banks would see increasing credit losses in the next 18 to 24 months.
The rating agency said there will also be weakening asset quality in unsecured lending that will negate any real estate market improvement when it comes to the banks’ loan books.
This is indeed a dreary picture that has been painted here. The same picture was also painted by another global rating agency Moody’s this week.
We know that South African politics are dysfunctional.
But after a week in which Zuma showed that he was more obsessed with the ANC winning votes in next year’s elections than what most voters care about, it is appropriate to say there is something terribly wrong with South Africa’s democracy.
Voters are more concerned about jobs, incomes, economic growth and education, and the gloomy picture being painted by global agencies means goals in these areas may not be met.
And Zuma could be wasting his and our time with his economic blueprint, the National Development Plan (NDP).
In other words, Zuma is also not even aware that the votes that he is chasing for his party may not be achieved if he fails to correct problems these bodies have raised.
But Zuma has ignored these agencies' warnings and instead went for a very dubious fourth cabinet reshuffle in a short space of time.
I think he should have called a press conference and unveiled an urgent strategy to tackle the depressed economic outlook.
Rising bad debts could force banks to embark on cost management, and this means retrenchments which will negatively impact on economic growth.
Zuma recently told a press briefing that South Africa needs faster growth and a stable, growing mining sector.
He said South Africa’s pace of economic growth has to speed up over the rest of this year to achieve the official goal of 2.7% growth this year.
But the latest official information shows that this will not happen, and what does he do about this?
He fires Tokyo Sexwale from heading the ministry of human settlements, because Sexwale did not support him in Mangaung.
This is being truly petty and shows that he cares much more about settling scores than the wellbeing of the country.
Sexwale recently made an appearance at an SABC/The New Age Breakfast meeting, and came across as someone who was clued up with what he was doing at the ministry.
Even journalist friends of mine were impressed by Sexwale’s performance on the day.
He did not talk only about what his department was planning to do, like Zuma’s beloved ministers usually do. He told us what they have achieved.
South Africans have no choice but to look on the dark side of life at this stage.
It never rains but it pours for South Africa.
- Fin24
*Mzwandile Jacks is a freelance journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.
