Parliament - Embattled Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan received a standing ovation from ANC and opposition MPs on Wednesday as he rose to table the medium-term budget policy statement, in which he called for unity and political stability.
The minister, who will appear in court on fraud charges next week, called for national unity and political stability as he read the policy statement that recommits National Treasury to fiscal consolidation.
“Either we work as a South African pack, or we work as a divided pack … or we miss our chances,” he said after citing a Pedi metaphor on lions hunting as a collective.
“What we seek can be done if we collectively make the right choices … create a stable political environment and put the national interest first. Whether we do or not is up to us not the stars,” he said.
Citing Cape Verdean anti-colonialist poet Amilcar Gabral, he went on to warn that as South Africa struggled with growth that has slowed to a forecast 0.5 percent of GDP this year, it’s difficulties were not all external.
“One type of struggle we regard as fundamental… the struggle against our own weaknesses… Whatever difficulties the enemy may create, the aforementioned is the most difficult struggle for the present and the future of our people,” he quoted.
Shortly before police for the second year used stun grenades to disperse protesting students from Parliament, the minister said violent protest was a sign of unresolved social challenges.
“It is as if we have put unnecessary hurdles in the way of realising our potential and implementing development plans.”
Listing government’s failures, Gordhan said, policy statements were sometimes unclear, commitments were made without resource plans, implementation was derailed by institutional instability, lack of certainty and lost trust resulted in lost investment and “vested interests and political contestation interfere with decision-making”.
It was the second time in the day that Gordhan pointed to vested interests, earlier telling a media briefing that there were those who would fight tooth and nail to protect their own, narrow aims.
In his speech, he said the struggle to achieve government’s objectives in a shrunken fiscal space would include “zero tolerance for corruption and wastage of public resources”.
The finance minister is perceived to be on a political collision course with President Jacob Zuma as he seeks to police government’s business dealings with the politically connected Gupta family.
The MDTPS tabled by Gordhan, the country’s 20th, included a comprehensive fiscal risk statement.
It notes: The most significant fiscal risks over the next three years are lower-than-expected economic growth, higher than expected increases in compensation budgets and the parlous finances of some state-owned companies and public entities.
At the Treasury media briefing, Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas flatly stated that political tumult was bad for the economy.
Gordhan echoed this in his speech: “If we make the right choices, politically and economically, we can achieve faster and more inclusive economic growth.
“We need to widen opportunities, without capitulating to opportunism.”
African News Agency