BE resilient. This is the plea by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba to South Africans amid the woes that have weighed down the county, including three credit downgrades and the recession.
Gigaba, the man tasked with pulling the country out of recession and junk status, said yesterday that the campaign of radically transforming the economy was a test for him, but he remained resolute.
South Africa was downgraded by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch to junk status, while Moody’s downgraded the country one notch above junk status with a negative outlook.
“The negative impact of the economy which is not growing is that there will be no job opportunities for South Africans and that is not good for us as the country,” he said.
The one thing that would bring stability in the country, which was tottering on shaky grounds, was the inclusion of black people in the economy.
Gigaba spoke during the south regional business fair organised by eThekwini Municipality at KwaMnyandu shopping mall in uMlazi. He urged everybody to join hands to remedy the sluggish economy.
He lauded eThekwini municipality for its efforts in changing people’s lives. “But a lot can still be done,” he said.
Gigaba said the government was pulling out all stops in efforts to eradicate poverty, and the building of a state-owned bank was in the final stages.
He said since he took the reins from the erstwhile finance minister Pravin Gordhan, sacked by President Jacob Zuma in March, he has constantly been attacked by “the people who did not want the economy transformed”.
“These people don’t want us to have an equal share in the economy of this country. They want to dominate the economy alone. They have given mandates for me to be attacked.
“But I will stand my ground until the economy benefits all of us. The mere fact they are attacking me means that I’m doing something right. Like dogs, they don’t chase a car that is not moving.”
Gigaba said reviving the township economy would play a major role in creating job opportunities and ridding townships of poverty.
“Why do we have stores like Pep, Shoprite, OK and Checkers in townships? The time has come for townships to have big retailers named after people who live in those townships.”
On the Mining Charter, Gigaba said it was wrong that there was backlash for increasing from 26% to 30% black ownership to be shared among employees, communities and black entrepreneurs.
Gigaba said it was important for white people to know that the transformation of the economy would also benefit them.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE