The Midrand business community believes that the exit of President Jacob Zuma will give the economy a much-needed boost.
There have been calls from various organisations and opposition political parties for Zuma to step down following allegations of fraud, corruption and state capture. It has been reported that the ANC is in talks about an exit plan for the state president.
The executive committee member of Midrand Local Economic Empowerment Forum, Benso Motsumi said investors have been concerned about Zuma’s actions since the removal of former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, the state capture allegations and the alleged mismanagement state-owned entities. He said investors have been reluctant to invest in the economy resulting in a less than 2 per cent economic growth.
Motsumi said as an organisation they believed that there should be stability and policy certainty in the country which in turn attracts foreign investment which will result in the growth of the economy and subsequently create jobs.
“We therefore believe that Zuma’s resignation will reignite the economy,” he said.
“International and local investors appear to like the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as the president of the ANC. In his recent trip to the world economic forum in Davos, investors appeared to like his election and they have showed appetite to invest in our economy.
“In his medium term budget speech, Minister [of Finance] Malusi Gigaba announced that our budget has a deficit of R50 billion which was a result of Sars under collection. When the economy shrinks, the end result will be Sars under collecting because businesses are not making enough profit and new jobs will not being created.
“Government recently announced free education which requires funding by the [state]. This will happen with ease if investors are investing in the South African economy.”
Sharing similar sentiments was the Midrand Forum’s executive member Al Karaki who said the mood would be one of hope and high optimism should Zuma resign.
“As a service provider, the Midrand Forum is seeing an increase in interest for business-related investment and a slight movement towards increased spending, even on the projects that are considered speculative,” said Karaki.
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