We’re a tough lot, us South Africans, always up for the fight and ready to take a hit. We’ll probably take some more hits when Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivers his maiden Budget Speech on Wednesday. But we’ll get back up and dust ourselves off and keep plodding on because that’s what we do, we exude resilience.
Mind you, how much more can we actually take? If it’s not the coronavirus constantly morphing into yet another variant and thus pushing our recovery further back, we’re plagued by something else. A stagnant economy, rising costs while salaries remain the same, an uptick in crime, failed coup attempts and riots, politicians who promise the world and deliver exactly nothing.
Can we even still include load shedding on that list? It’s been with us for over a decade and we keep hearing about how things are slowly being turned around at Eskom and that one day we won’t have the lights suddenly switched off anymore. But let’s be real, we’ve heard the excuses so many times we’ve all just come to terms with living with load shedding indefinitely.
But our latest ailment is in the form of typhoid disease. There have been small, localised outbreaks of typhoid fever in parts of the North West and the Western Cape but this is something we should have seen coming as far back as 2008 says, professor Anthony Turton.
The prof speaks with News24, where he says the state was warned about the potential development of diseases like typhoid (for subscribers), 14 years ago.
Meanwhile over in Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin moves forward with his likely plan to take control of his western neighbour, his argument that Ukraine is historically integral to Russia doesn’t hold muster anymore writes Alexander O’Riordan.
O’Riordan says that Ukraine has fully embraced Western values and culture and no longer finds itself clinging to the past as a former Soviet nation.
Here’s a roundup of interesting opinions, analyses, and editorials:
EDITORIAL: Debt keeps heat on Godongwana – Business Day
Carol Paton | There’s good news for Godongwana’s maiden budget, but what he does next is crucial – Fin24 (for subscribers)
You tax booze, you lose: raising excise tax isn’t an option for finance minister – Sunday Times Daily
MPHO MOLOPYANE: Not adding up: the basic income grant dilemma – Business Day
The business of running South Africa: Who should manage the economy? – Daily Maverick
Ralph Mathekga | ANC’s renewal programme is inward-looking and tone-deaf – News24 (for subscribers)
Image credit: MaxPixel
