Publications
Partners
"There was an idea called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to fight the battles that we never could."
If you recognise the quote above, you probably know who Nick Fury is, and this weekend is probably particularly exciting for you.
If you are still lost and do not know who Nick Fury is, you could be forgiven for believing this quote was said with South Africa's precarious economic and political outlook in mind.
Friday, April 26 saw thousands of South Africans flocking to cinemas to watch the culmination of ten years of that comic book-based world building behemoth, Avengers: Endgame.
Unless you have been living in some underground bunker in Nkandla for the past decade, you will know that the Avengers franchise has grown from a cinematic adaptation of Marvel's most beloved team of comic book heroes to Endgame, one of the most highly anticipated films ever made.
Weeks after the film's debut - and pundits predicted one of the biggest opening grosses in cinema history - millions of South Africans will go to the polls to vote for a new government for the next five years.
Endgame - SA edition
The battle between the supervillain Thanos and earth's mightiest heroes, and the war to claw South Africa's state and its entities out of capture, may have little to do with each other at first glance.
But they are both stories of sacrifice, hard decisions and the struggle against destructive dark forces.
In the 2018 prequel, Infinity War, we saw Thanos emerge to collect six infinity stones and use them on his infinity gauntlet to cut the universe’s population in half.
South Africa is not trying to cut its population in half. But it, too, must contend with a scarcity of resources. Leaders have the task of making less tax revenue and a fraught fiscal outlook go twice as far, while fighting graft and, somehow, improving service standards.
No infinite resources
Earlier this month, the South African Revenue Service announced that it had collected R1 287.6bn in tax for the financial year ended March 31, 2019. This is R14.6bn less than what was estimated in the revised Budget.
During Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni’s budget speech in February, it became clear the economic outlook for the country had weakened since the 2018 mini budget, with GDP growth projected to increase from 1.5% to 2.1% in 2021 compared to forecasts of 1.8% for 2019 and 2.1% for 2020 last February.
Like Thanos realised about the universe, it is clear to us that the resources needed for a developmental state are not infinite.
Using powers for good
Since Marvel Studios’ magnum opus Infinity War tore up the box office last year, many fans have been wondering why Thanos does not simply use the infinity stones to double the amount of resources in the universe instead of wiping out half of all life.
Firstly, the infinity gauntlet’s power is limited and might not allow Thanos to do this. The idea of doubling resources is also contrary to Thanos' philosophy, as he believes increased resources would prompt the population to grow even faster that it would have, had he done nothing at all.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, or whoever wins the election and is inaugurated as president next month, will have to deal with a similar economic quandary: limited resources for a growing population - and we've all witnessed apparently limited powers to make the economy grow quickly enough.
While the president, thankfully, will not have the power to wipe out half of South Africa with a snap of their fingers, some superhuman talents may still be needed to manage the national fiscus.
And while Ramaphosa has done his best to boost resources, talking a good game about his $100bn investment drive since last year, he must know that SA has only so much room to spend. The recent scramble to link Eskom to financing after delays with the China Development Bank proves this.
To the left, Tony Stark
Tony Stark, also known by his superhero moniker Iron Man, is a prominent member of the Avengers team. Many of the films in the Avengers saga focus on his knowledge of the looming threat of Thanos on earth and his desperate attempts to offset a deadly space Armageddon.
During the Infinity War, Tony Stark showed a willingness to sacrifice lives to prevent the existing threat from destroying his world, even if it meant sacrificing innocent and good lives to do it - although this changed with time.
Political opponents such as the Economic Freedom Fighters and Black First Land First have propagated a message that the comforts of the status quo, in terms of economic policy, may have to be sacrificed to bring an end to inequality.
The parties and their supporters are of the considered view that radically transforming the economy while maintaining the status quo are mutually exclusive.
Steve Rogers, official opposition
Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America, is a strait-laced hero who is known to stick to his values without compromise. When the prospect of killing an ally, Vision, to prevent Thanos from completing the infinity gauntlet arises, Rogers refuses, declaring: "We don’t trade lives."
Rogers' unwillingness to compromise his values and friends landed him in awkward spots in past films. Like that time when he forgot to tell his ally Tony Stark that his friend, Bucky, murdered Stark's parents, and the two tried to beat Stark up for being mad about it when he found out (see Captain America: Civil War).
The Democratic Alliance has, at least, branded itself as a party of sticklers for constitutional principles and the rule of law. In recent years, the party has pushed back against transformative policies including expropriation of land without compensation, especially where a threat to property rights exists.
The little heroes
An amusing fan theory on how Thanos is to be defeated involves Ant-Man (an Avenger who has the ability to shrink and grow in size at will) shrinking himself and entering Thanos’ earhole (or some other unmentionable orifice) and growing himself, causing the Mad Titan to explode and die.
While this is a highly unlikely conclusion for Avengers: Endgame, it is a reminder that it is not always the biggest hero that saves the day.
Between the tussles of the three largest political parties in South Africa, the smaller political parties have had shining moments in the past five years, during which they have demonstrated a commitment to improving South African society.
African People’s Convention president Themba Godi’s work as chair of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts with Inkatha Freedom Party MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa’s work in the same committee put paid to Parliament’s mandate of holding the executive to account.
Inkatha Freedom Party MP Lizl Van Der Merwe’s work in getting to the bottom of the South Africa Social Security Agency’s grant payment procurement quandary is on record.
United Democratic Movement MP and leader Bantu Holomisa played a significant role in highlighting governance challenges at the Public Investment Corporation.
All things considered, every effort counts in stopping economic difficulties and maladministration from eating away at the country's future - like Galactus eats away at planets.
* Khulekani Magubane is Senior Financial Reporter at Fin24. Views expressed are his own.
