The biggest fund manager in the country, owned by government, wants to move money out of the country. The pace of land invasions has increased. Property prices are trending downwards, partly due to black people expecting to get expropriated land for free, while other buyers are not sure if it’s worth it if expropriation without compensation (EWC) happens.
After or concurrently with EWC, we’ll be debating nationalising the South African Reserve Bank (another ANC resolution from Nasrec). If you think the rand is in trouble now, wait a few months. Government borrowed R33 billion from the Chinese, rather than Eskom raising that from the bond market. Either Eskom got a better-than-market interest rate or the opposite; decide for yourself which is more likely.
Not to mention the fact that if the State-owned enterprises (SOEs) fail, the entire economy will tank on its own, without anything else happening. All your taxes now service debt, and we are perilously close to the point where government won’t be able to cover the interest through taxes. We have close to 40% unemployment. We are in a recession (and have been for a few years if you factor inflation into the calculation) and inflation is doing a number on us partly driven by public sector unions and their unholy relationship with government.
The government has effectively lost its ability to ensure the rule of law in significant parts of the country, FeesMustFall, Marikana and recently, xenophobic attacks in Gauteng, proved this.
The education system does not produce the skills needed by the economy, where anything of excellence is done by the private sector, which immediately becomes a target for doing anything well (like the National Health Insurance).
We are in trouble. We need to face this fact and stop thinking that the wasteful, incompetent and malicious government somehow has a master plan to save us. They do not. I know, because all of them have had more power than you or I for the past twenty-four years and have only used it to make our problems worse.
All your heroes in government are not worthy to shine your shoes. You are a much better human being than any of that disgusting lot.
The imminent debt crisis would be further off in time if your state capture hero Pravin Gordhan had not decided to take on more debt (which was a direct cause of the state capture phenomenon that he now speaks against) trying to “stimulate” the economy after the 2008 crisis.
President Cyril Ramaphosa negotiated a national minimum wage that will make it harder for young people to find work, which is the opposite of what we need right now. He is also the guy who negotiated the Constitution which had transformation at its core, and the 24 years of wasted resources trying to make the racial balance ‘just right’ in everything.
You are an adult, you are a thinker, stand up for yourself because there is absolutely nothing government can do for you. Seek ways to collaborate with other members of civil society. That’s our only reason to hope right now. We are not led, but we can lead ourselves.