The ANC says it is satisfied that South Africa is nowhere near being broke. President Cyril Ramaphosa says the ruling party’s National Executive Committee received a convincing report from the Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on the fiscal situation or position of the country.
“The NEC is reassured that South Africa is not running out of money”, said Ramaphosa in his closing address to the NEC meeting on Monday evening.
Ramaphosa suggested the party’s youth wing as well as alliance partners Cosatu and SACP don’t know what austerity means. The three have criticised Godongwana accusing him of undermining the ANC’s developmental agenda. The recently relaunched league even called for his removal claiming he could potentially pit the ruling party against voters in the 2024 general elections but Ramaphosa is adamant there are no austerity measures in place.
“The fiscal pressures that our country faces stem fundamentally an economic challenge of slow and jobless growth. Instilling discipline is as important as taking decisive steps to grow the economy. Fiscal discipline is not the same imposing austerity measures that will undermine our developmental agenda.
“Accordingly, the NEC encourages government to continue with the implementation of structural reforms, in particular in the areas of energy and logistics,” he said.