‘Ku rough!’ – Mboweni acknowledges his tough task ahead of budget speech

Ahead of his first budget speech as finance minister, Tito Mboweni took to Twitter in a sly acknowledgement that he understood the enormity of the task ahead of him.

Just after midnight on Wednesday, Mboweni shared a cartoon by Business Day’s editorial cartoonist Brandan Reynolds, sometimes known as just “Brandan”, with the caption “Ku rough! Kuthi huuuu!!!”

READ MORE: Will Mboweni do better than Gigaba’s ‘alright’ budget speech?

The cartoon shows Mboweni carrying his budget for 2019 on a small pillow, but also with another, much bigger stack of papers trailing behind him, representing the enormity of Eskom’s significance when it comes to South Africa’s financial woes.

The first part of his tweet simply means “that’s rough”, while the second is a reference to the popular song Banomoya by Prince Kaybee, featuring Busiswa and TNS.

Ku rough! Kuthi huuuu!!! pic.twitter.com/IEGnRXnsH9

— Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) February 19, 2019

Mboweni has his work cut out for him in what many analysts are calling one of the hardest budget speeches, if not the most difficult, that any of our finance ministers have ever had to deliver.

In his first speech in the position, the one-time reserve bank governor will need to somehow reassure investors about state power utility Eskom without alienating union allies ahead of national elections.

He is under pressure to bail out Eskom – along with its $30 billion mountain of debt — which is at the centre of South Africa’s mounting economic troubles.

Mboweni will deliver his maiden budget to parliament in Cape Town at 2pm.

Analysts have warned of tensions that may emerge should the restructuring of Eskom lead to job losses.

READ MORE: Mboweni to deliver budget faced with debt mountain and blackouts

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced this month that the utility would be divided into three, but unions have rejected the idea, saying it would lead to job cuts.

Over the past few weeks, load shedding has returned as Eskom has failed to meet demand.

The scale of the power outages, unseen in more than a decade, has rocked the continent’s most industrialised nation, plunging businesses, homes, and traffic lights into darkness.

But the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has been warned by its coalition partner, the COSATU trade union federation, that sackings could damage their alliance ahead of national elections due on May 8.

(Additional reporting by Michelle Gumede and AFP)

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