The Big Read: Time for reality to sink in

15 September 2015 - 02:13 By Justice Malala

What can we do about the terrible state of the South African economy? There is no doubt now that things are looking decidedly poor and the future is not looking that bright. Worse, we are all falling into a deep and dark slump about it. Last week the Rand Merchant Bank and Bureau for Economic Research business confidence index slumped to its lowest since late 2011, with leaders in retailing and wholesaling particularly down-at-mouth about our prospects.Their depression tells us what they are thinking: they are not confident that we will have money with which to buy in their shops.It is not the first indication that we are not feeling upbeat about our prospects. In July, the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced that its business confidence index fell by 2.3 points in June to its lowest in more than 16 years.The business confidence index declined to 84.6 in June, versus 86.9 in May, falling to its lowest since January 1999, the chamber said."The local economy is finding it difficult to raise its performance to prevent imbalances between demand, needs and output [worsening]," the chamber said.Just two weeks ago Statistics SA announced that our gross domestic product contracted 1.3% quarter-on-quarter.That means that the economic cake is becoming smaller, leaving even more of our people in poverty and desperation.At the end of last month President Jacob Zuma acknowledged that the economy is "sick" and asked: "Should we come together and recognise the fact that the economy is sick? How should we save jobs? Should we tighten our belts?"We can start by listening to each other. How can the government have closed its ears to the hundreds of business voices which said repeatedly for more than a year that the Department of Home Affairs' new visa rules would hurt tourism?It boggles the mind that, at this time, when the rand is so weak against the US dollar, the pound and the euro we do not have thousands of tourists elbowing each other out of the way to come here.They are not flocking here because we are making this one of the most difficult countries to visit.Last week I experienced what it is like for a tourist to come here. My children were nearly prevented from coming back to South Africa because of the new visa rules.They are South African, have South African passports, were travelling with their mother and had unabridged birth certificates plus an affidavit from me, but they were nearly prevented from coming home because of Home Affairs' unclear, impractical, ill-conceived new rules.What must it be like for a tourist? They will go to Kenya instead.Anyway, let's start by getting the "task team" that has been set up to look into this matter to move a little bit faster and resolve this problem.That is perhaps something we should extend to all levels of our government. One of the biggest problems facing this economy is that there is no policy certainty or coherence from many of our ministers.Take mineral resources, for example. Six weeks ago the Department of Mineral Resources pulled Optimum Colliery's licence to mine in Mpumalanga.Dark noises were made about how the mine treated its workers "inhumanely". Then, five days later, the licence was reinstated. So, in five days the mine owners had gone from being inhumane to humane?The truth is that actions like these underline the fact that if you are a mine owner, you can have your licence pulled arbitrarily by the government.So, if you are a mining investor you would think twice about putting your money into South Africa because, well, you are at the mercy of the personal whims of the minister of mineral resources.The problems that this economy faces will need some cool heads and a plan that is executed with single-mindedness. It will need business, labour and the government to come together and work with each other.It will need, crucially, a government that will encourage investment, innovation and certainty in the market.Can our political leaders step up to it? Can Zuma and his economics cluster show that they realise what a deep hole we are in?The consequences of not acting will be dire. Inequality and poverty are already at sickening levels. Unemployment is heart-wrenchingly high.All this leads to social ills that we experience every day: crime on the rise, protests at every turn and desperation in the actions of our people.Failure to act now means that things will only get worse. We cannot afford that. We should not allow it. The next step would be anarchy and collapse. This country is too beautiful, too precious, for that...

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