Too many crooks spoil SA

Two policy announcements this week resemble Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s cooking. They’re unappetising. There’s something fishy about the half-baked, dog’s breakfast of an economic recovery plan which President Cyril Ramaphosa will present to parliament tomorrow.

As Duma Qubule wrote in Business Day, “The Cabinet’s 48-page plan for an infrastructure-led recovery is a shambles of a document, which looks as if it was written by an intern. Almost nothing is costed, so the proposals are little more than a wish list.”

And the Expropriation Bill unveiled by ministers Patricia de Lille, Thoko Didiza and Ronald Lamola will give indigestion to land owners and potential investors. I have to bring this up. The economic recovery plan is a regurgitation of menus from previous ANC administrations. Infrastructure spending was the focus of former president Jacob Zuma’s first State of the Nation Address (Sona) in 2009. It remained a theme in every Sona during the nine wasted years of his presidency.

Infrastructure spending provided cover for state capture and looting by Zuptas and fellow tenderpreneurs. Projects ostensibly aimed at uplifting the poor were plundered. For example, in the Free State a R1 billion housing scheme did not produce any houses. Infrastructure spending will be more difficult in a junk-rated economy ravaged more by government-imposed lockdown regulations than by Covid-19. Where is the money going to come from?

Ramaphosa expects the private sector to fund infrastructure while the government retains control of how the money is spent. That’s not going to happen. Despite all the talk about social compacts, there’s been too much theft and corruption. Chief executive officers don’t trust the government. The investment strike will continue.

When Zuma was elected in 2009, there was plenty for cadres to steal. They raided every state-owned entity, including Eskom, South African Airways, SABC, Transnet, etc. They plundered provincial and municipal budgets. Even before Covid-19, the cupboard was bare, signified by junk status and recession. But lockdown was an excuse to redirect budget allocations and to borrow money, including from the International Monetary Fund. Opportunities for ANC cadre enrichment reopened.

Comrades stole this borrowed money and awarded each other contracts to supply life-saving equipment at breath-taking prices. The Expropriation Bill is a compromise, neither fish nor fowl. The radical economic transformation (RET) brigade dismiss it as a sellout, while property owners are edgy about the insistence on changing Section 25 of the constitution. The constitutional amendment is not legally necessary but it will be pushed in an attempt to fend off the EFF and to appease the RET faction of the ANC. Attempts at ANC unity are in vain.

The spat between Minister Fikile Mbalula and the RET faction reflects an underlying struggle for resources. RETs, including Carl Niehaus, Ace Magashule and the uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans’ Association can no longer have their cake and eat it, as they did during Zuma’s presidency.

But no plan served up by any ANC faction can rescue our economy. At every step, too many crooks spoiled the broth. They can’t cook-up an economic recovery from left-over crumbs. They don’t have the ingredients, and they don’t understand the recipe. We need a new menu. And new leaders.

Martin Williams, DA councillor and former editor of The Citizen.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.