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President Cyril Ramaphosa.
- The district attorney said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic recovery plans were full of “jargon and at times turgid.”
- The official opposition also called on Ramaphosa to fire cabinet ministers in default.
- Ramaphosa delivered the government’s economic recovery plan to Parliament on Thursday.
Opposition parties say President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic recovery plan did not offer a clear plan of action to revive the battered economy.
Critics said the highlight of Ramaphosa’s speech in Parliament on Thursday was the extension of the government’s special R350 Covid-19 social grant.
The district attorney’s spokesman for economic affairs, Geordin Hill-Lewis, said Ramaphosa’s speech was not the courageous commitment they had hoped for and that South Africa needed.
“It was full of jargon and sometimes turgid. Most importantly, President Ramaphosa did not close the ‘credibility gap’ between promised reform and absent action.
“He should have used this speech to confront the enemies of growth and reform. And he needed to show exactly how and when the promised reforms would be achieved. Without this detail, the president will not get any benefit of the doubt,” he added. Hill-Lewis said.
READ | Ramaphosa Extends Covid-19 Special Grant, Plans 800,000 New Job Opportunities
He also said that non-compliant cabinet ministers should be removed.
‘If the South African economy is to recover, then no more plans are needed. South Africa has many plans. The only thing that counts now is whether the necessary reforms can be implemented in time to avoid further mass unemployment and poverty.
“Time is running out. You should commit to public implementation deadlines that are set in stone,” he said.
The EFF said in a statement that Ramaphosa’s plan was “out of touch with reality.”
“The reality faced by workers in farms, works, factories; workers in municipalities; poor people in the informal settlement without food, water and electricity; students who continue to suffer exclusion from higher education institutions because they were born poor and unemployed youth remain without no credible and practical economic recovery and reconstruction plan, “said EFF spokesman Vuyani Pambo.
He said the infrastructure investment of R1 trillion was a “pipe dream”.
“The only way that investment in infrastructure will add economic value is when the government builds internal capacity, appoints qualified and competent engineers, craftsmen and managers to manage government projects, and only purchases material the government cannot produce.”
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said that Ramaphosa had not yet freed himself from the ideological constraints imposed on him by his alliance partners.
“Despite the announcements of independent energy production, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy has not yet finalized this process, and his Cabinet has been delaying this process without thinking for years.
“Despite the Finance Minister announcing cuts in the civil service wage bill, we have continued to spend more and not less in a government that acts as a cadre deployment agency,” Mashaba said.
Cosatu welcomed Ramaphosa’s speech but remained concerned about the state’s ability and the commitment of companies to comply with the economic recovery plan.
READ ALSO | Top 4 Economic Lifelines Ramaphosa Has Planned For SA
Matthew Parks, Cosatu Parliamentary Coordinator, said: “The government must ensure that corruption does not enter this massive trillion rand program. The private sector must turn to the party decisively to free up capital for infrastructure. Cosatu is pleased to see that our Eskom Social Pact has been adopted. The government, Eskom, businesses and society must move quickly to implement it. A central element of our economic recovery is affordable and reliable electricity. “
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GOOD Party Secretary General Brett Herron said the key to successfully changing the economy would be implementation by the president and his cabinet.
“South Africa’s version of a ‘new deal’, which much of the world is currently grappling with, contains all the elements on which our economy can possibly bail out: infrastructure, energy supply and diversification, stimulation of employment, industrialization , inclusion and localization, “he said.
Wayne Duvenage, executive director of the Organization Undo Fiscal Abuse (OUTA), said the government needed to make an unpopular decision and cut the huge workforce and pay in the public sector.
“The country is losing large amounts of talent as the tax base shrinks, as highly skilled people leave our shores to exercise their skills in countries that value their contribution. Productivity has declined in recent decades and the government has not it has kept unemployment figures at bay, “he said.
