Despite a continuing crippling drought across the country, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni provided absolutely no assistance to farmers who provide food for all South Africans.
“As expected, farmers continue to rely solely on their own structures to survive,” said Mr Louis Meintjies, TLU SA president. “This, in contrast to state utility Eskom that once again received more grants totalling billions of Rands in taxpayer funds, yet continues it rapid slide into an debt abyss. Eskom is admittedly a major problem, but the elephant in the room remains the significant and never-ending drain on the fiscus. Funds are poured into a black hole of corruption and wasted expenditure.”
Mr Mboweni’s best intentions are irrelevant where crippling black economic empowerment, combined with a policy environment where business is hobbled at every turn and an overwhelming loss of confidence in the economy are hurdles that will be overcome with great difficulty.
Limited austerity measures announced by Mboweni is one of the greatest solutions. Sadly, history has proven that the ANC’s alliance partner Cosatu will undermine these measures at every turn.
“South Africa urgently needs a policy that clearly details the road ahead and that inspires confidence among investors and the business sector,” said Mr Meintjies. “We can no longer accept this uncertainty where, on the one hand, destructive policies like BEE and expropriation without compensation are promoted, yet on the other hand, the government “wishes” for and expects results that are clearly dependent upon healthy economic principles.”
