My colleague at Sasfin, Liston Meintjes, reckons that, structurally, the South African economy is the weakest it has ever been. Cynically, he says that if we continue along the present path we'll soon be called South Zimbabwe. It does not necessarily mean he is negative on the JSE. The externalisation of big companies' earnings has shielded the stock market against the economy's downward trajectory.Meintjes is not alone in his worries. T he Reserve Bank governor, Lesetja Kganyago, expressed discomfort with the state of the economy last week . H e highlighted that, for the next three years, softer commodity prices, power shortages and declining consumer and business confidence will constrain growth to levels considerably below the global mean.The governor's projections might appear generous, because no sooner had he raised interest rates by a quarter percent, in an effort to anchor inflation and support the currency, than commodity prices ratcheted down another peg, sending the stock market down and the rand to multi-year lows against the dollar.The source of our anxiety on the economy extends beyond deteriorating business confidence, incompetent leadership and Eskom's misfortunes. The decade-long super-cycle in resources, instigated by China's plans to develop its infrastructure and modernise its economy, came to an unexpected conclusion recently, wrong-footing mining bosses who had invested heavily in new ventures to meet growing demand.The sudden termination of China's wide-ranging, fixed-investment programme battered sentiment, triggering a broad-based flight from commodities that is threatening to submerge the world's mining industry.Resources have fallen to six-year lows, with analysts predicting that reduced demand and increasing supply could result in further price cuts by as much as 20%. Gold is expected to slip below $1000 an ounce; platinum is already trading at 2009 levels, while, after recovering from its recent slump, oil is resuming its downtrend.Anglo American, once South Africa's leading company, is trading at its lowest price in nearly 10 years. Last week, CEO Mark Cutafani announced that the group was positioning itself for the new reality by selling assets, boosting productivity and reducing staff numbers by a third.South Africa's third-largest platinum producer, Lonmin, already reeling from last year's strike, revealed it was closing two shafts and mothballing three others, jeopardising 6000 jobs. More mining groups are expected to take similar action.Grasping the consequences of the plunge in resource prices should be a national priority. Mining may no longer contribute as much to the economy as it once did, but it remains a major employer. More significantly, though, each time a shaft is discontinued the closure not only affects the workforce but a string of formal and informal businesses that draw life from the operation's existence.We dare not pin our hopes on prices recovering; commodity cycles take years to repair. Instead, it's time for our leaders to set aside their preoccupation with transformation and other political imperatives, and take a lead from Eskom by setting up a war room, manned by the best business brains in the country, to formulate a plan that will prevent our economy going the way of our northerly neighbour...