Ramaphosa’s economic recovery plan a PR exercise – expert

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s hyped economic recovery plan is nothing but a PR exercise meant to cover the mess the government caused to the economy, an expert says.

Analyst and finance senior lecturer at Wits Business School Dr Thanti Mthanti said the action is too late to help the economy and that Ramaphosa could have acted six months ago, when businesses faced imminent closures and workers job losses as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown.

“Where do they get the money now that they did not have six months ago when it was desperately needed? Businesses have closed, airports, buses and taxis are empty. What infrastructures are they going to build? Do we need to build new roads when the existing roads are empty because the economy is dead?” Mthanti asked.

No other country other than South African had so far announced a recovery plan after the Covid-19 economic damage. Other countries unveiled their plans to save jobs and boost the economy soon after they announced their lockdowns to prevent massive economic damage.

“This must just be a PR stunt to cover the damage they have caused to our economy,” he said. The expert said there was a lot of speculation around Ramaphosa’s plan, but its details were shrouded in mystery in spite of all the noise. Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said Ramaphosa had run out of road for plans and promises.

“Now we need action and results,” he said. According to Steenhuisen, if the plan failed on implementation, it would go down in history as “his Economic Destruction Inaction Plan and his presidency will mark the biggest ever sustained contraction of South Africa’s economy”.

The DA, however, did not preach all doom and gloom. “Assuming the final version of this plan echoes the most recent draft circulated, it contains some long-overdue, pro-growth reforms which, if actually implemented, will have a major positive impact on South Africa’s economic and social wellbeing,” Steenhuisen said.

Saftu, the second biggest union federation after Cosatu, said the plan would be a “disappointment” and cautioned workers not to be deceived by the President’s rhetoric. Saftu said the workers and the poor must not accept it.

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