Tito has a ‘six-pack’ of troubles, says DA

In a statement on Monday, DA MP David Maynier said the South African recession has placed serious doubts on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plans for economic growth, employment and transformation.

“We are now in deep economic trouble, with ordinary people experiencing an income squeeze following tax increases and petrol price hikes, and with 9.6 million people who do not have jobs, or who have given up looking for jobs, in South Africa.”

He said the new minister of finance, Tito Mboweni, was facing a “six-pack of challenges” that would have to be dealt with in his first Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday in Parliament.

• Mboweni needed to “define himself by explaining his flirtation with radical economic transformation and clarifying his views on extending state ownership in the mining sector, establishing a state bank and creating a sovereign wealth fund”. They were referring to a series of tweets Mboweni had published in April that sounded a lot like “EFF ideas”.

• The DA also called on him to present a “credible plan to boost economic growth to at least 3% by announcing a package of structural reforms designed to increase private sector investment”;

• They asked that he “hold the fiscal line by announcing a comprehensive spending review and presenting a credible plan to stabilise national debt at, or below, 50% of GDP”;

• Maynier wants Mboweni to restore public trust by ensuring the speedy removal of the suspended commissioner of the SA Revenue Service, Tom Moyane, and that a credible replacement be installed for him;

• They want SAA placed in business rescue “with a view to privatising, or part privatising” the national carrier; and

• The DA has again called for the disclosing of the terms and conditions of the confidential R33.4 billion loan to Eskom from the Chinese Development Bank.

“We believe that if Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, deals decisively with the “six pack” of challenges during the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, he will give hope to the 9.6 million people who do not have jobs, or who have given up looking for jobs, in South Africa,” added Maynier.

(Edited by Charles Cilliers)

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