Government has lost its GPS

MANDLA RADEBE of Norkem Park writes:

It is increasingly difficult to ignore the Parliamentary drama. The last time Parliament attracted such interest was in 1993-1995 which was a rocky transition period, characterised by agony and ecstasy, depending on who you were and what you believed.

Derek Keys and Chris Liebenberg were the Ministers of Finance for the government of national unity, who made no waves, just like their popular successor Trevor Manuel.

Few issues came through the cracks as government weaknesses, committed or omitted either deliberately or accidentally. There was a fair amount of trust and respect between the governing and opposition parties and between the government and citizens.

The sitting president valued unity among all citizens, which made it difficult for ministers to deviate from such noble values. Parliamentary language was polished; in particular, there was no vulgarity or swearing, despite some jeering. Parliament was a dignified, law-making house of the Republic.

I single out finance ministers because of the issues coming out of the budget presentation tabled on February 22. I am not highlighting what was mentioned – as you probably know this – but what was not mentioned.

One is radical economic transformation. For something that carries such a strong and catchy phrase, you want to know what it is and what it means. The ruling party has been noisy about this without publicly defining what it means, or when and how it is going to be achieved.

The ANC Women’s League accuses Pravin Gordhan of sabotaging the ANC economic policy through his silence on this, but the ANC itself has displayed cluelessness about it since the day the phrase was conceived, despite enjoying shouting the phrase. They basically gave gullible itching ears what they were desperate to hear.

The other is economic growth. Rating agencies have been extraordinarily lenient with us on this. Our economy is stuck on gear #3; it is stagnant and failure to mention what needs to be done displays lack of strategy.

There have been a few international economic issues that were beyond our control, but we have unresolved home-grown fundamental economic flaws. We need to move beyond where we are.

The saddest thing is that movement depends on the government, but it looks and sounds like they have lost the GPS and have neither a clue of our present positioning nor the direction we need to take.

I concluded this from the president’s remarks regarding rating agencies and their role – as well as the remarks of the former Eskom CEO (rumoured as the next finance minister). Clearly, for such a time and such challenges as these, we lack appropriate leadership. The reason why we expect this is: we have high unemployment, poverty and inequality.

What followed was something that all clueless regimes do when they run out of ideas – taxing the rich excessively.

Taxing someone 45 per cent for carrying the label “rich” is ridiculous. It discourages growth – especially of small businesses. It says, “There is a penalty for progress; hard work doesn’t pay you, but the government.”

We need as many rich people as possible in our midst for investment. Taxing them exorbitantly will not bring progress. What is next? Fifty per cent? How’s that sustainable?

Also, a five per cent increase in dividend tax is hypocritical when you want to encourage saving and investment. Inclusive economic growth will increase our tax base and eliminate unfair taxation.

Cutting costs was not mentioned. Why do government officials need costly vehicles? What are we doing with wasteful/fruitless expenditure, which has reached R30bn? Let’s do things right and fairly.