Mzansi responds to Cyril Ramaphosa on SA 'spending more than it is earning'

This week's edition of President Cyril Ramaphosa's newsletter to the nation has been met with mixed reactions.

In it, Ramaphosa said the country was spreading itself thin and spending more than it was earning.

“The budget presented by finance minister Tito Mboweni last week presents a sobering assessment of the state of our economy. Put simply, we are spending far more than we are earning.”

He said the latest figures indicated that change needed to happen or “there will be even more difficult times ahead”.

“As a result, we are borrowing more and more, and the cost of servicing that debt is rising. In fact, debt service costs are now the fastest-growing area of expenditure.

“We spend more on debt repayments than we do on health. Only education and social development get more,” he said.

Ramaphosa added: “We are fixing our public finances to make inclusive growth and job creation possible. Such times call for us to be realistic, not dogmatic. They call for co-operation, not conflict. Compromises and trade-offs will have to be made,” he said.

Taking to social media, many reacted to Ramaphosa's “same-old” speech about job creation and how he plans to grow the economy.

Here is a snapshot of the reactions: