It’s budget speech day and while we’ll be glued to our TV screens at 14:00 sharp to catch finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s maiden speech, some good opinions are floating around for you to have a read before the speech.
First, if you missed our morning newsletter, have a read to get the latest on what’s expected from the minister’s speech. While the rand briefly broke below R15/$ earlier, with the local unit’s strength buoyed by the expectation of a positive budget speech.
Political commentator Justice Malala writes that the budget speech often takes its lead from what the president says during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) (for subscribers). The two speeches must be aligned, and the budget speech sketches out how the state’s coffers will pay for the programmes announced by the president in the SONA.
During the Mandela and Mbeki presidencies there was a greater understanding of this but during the Zuma years the relationship between the president and treasury “became a joke” writes Malala.
“From 2009 on, political ineptitude, lack of vision, spinelessness and rampant corruption rendered the budget a piece of paper that explains how we are spending the last bits of cash we can still be bothered to collect from business, and nothing else.”
Malala argues that Godongwana’s speech today must speak to the words uttered by President Cyril Ramaphosa during SONA or South Africa will continue to bumble along directionless.
Director of research & programmes at Good Governance Africa, Ross Harvey, argues that Godongwana must be honest with South Africans and that the budget should reflect the stark challenges facing the country and outline a sustainable model for dealing with those challenges.
“A solid budget speech on Wednesday will be honest about the challenges and not gloss over them. This would provide confidence to South Africans and the global market that our rose-tinted glasses are off, and hard decisions are being made to ensure sustainability.”
Harvey details what our most pressing challenges are and what can be done to address them through sustainable and real action plans.
Switching gears to suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, it’s been over a year since he first faced corruption charges in connection with the R255 million asbestos scam but the embattled ANC leader has hit back and painted a negative picture of Cyril Ramaphosa while he was at it.
Karyn Maughan writes that the legal case against Magashule raises some important questions over whether the prosecution’s case against the ANC SG is strong enough to gain a conviction (for subscribers).
Here’s a roundup of interesting opinions, analyses, and editorials:
A letter to Godongwana: How to create one million jobs in South Africa – Mail & Guardian
TONY LEON | SA’s politicians quite simply don’t have enough ‘skin in the game’ to care – Sunday Times Daily (for subscribers)
EDITORIAL: Hlophe’s latest ruction a timely reminder of JSC’s disciplinary role – Business Day (register to read)
Solitary confinement is illegal. So why is it happening in South African prisons? – GroundUp
Melanie Verwoerd | A vote of no confidence in Ramaphosa’s Cabinet: What then? – News24 (for subscribers)
In the long game, Cyril Ramaphosa can only lose and Julius Malema has everything to gain – Daily Maverick
Image: Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. Credit: Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp/Creative Commons.
