Economic stagnation looms: can Ramaphosa's government turn the tide amidst scandals?

Dear DM168 reader,

This week Daily Maverick’s Pauli van Wyk and News24’s Kyle Cowan published a series of articles showing how Justice Minister Thembi Simelane lived way beyond her means when, as mayor of Polokwane in 2018, her luxury expenses outstripped her income by 569%, funding her lifestyle from business accounts with inexplicable  sources of income.

Before publishing their third article, in which the writers explain that Simelane’s tenure as mayor of Polokwane appeared to be marred by her receiving and spending cash she now declines to explain, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that he was reshuffling his Cabinet. Not firing Simelane, just moving her to another compartment on the government gravy train as minister of human settlements.

The thing that bugs me most about this saga is why on earth Ramaphosa appointed Simelane to the job of justice minister in the first place. According to the parliamentary website, Simelane holds a Higher Education Diploma, a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree, and a BPhil (Political Studies), which she obtained from the University of Stellenbosch.

She also completed the Advanced Programme in Management at Wits Business School. Nowhere in her CV is there anything about the law, but I can let that pass because most ministers have little experience or expertise in their portfolios. Nowhere in DA leader and Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen’s CV is there anything to do with farming, for example.

What bugs me is that while she was meant to be the mayor of Polokwane, Simelane was borrowing  funds for a coffee shop from VBS Mutual Bank and living the lush life with inflows from all over the place into her bank accounts. And not exactly doing her job. Proof? Just ask Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke, who has revealed in report after report that the Polokwane municipality had qualified audit outcomes for three financial years (2018 to 2021), when Simelane was mayor.

Did Ramaphosa not read the Auditor-General’s reports? Did he not read Pauli and Kyle’s lifestyle audit of Simelane? Is Simelane still a minister in the government of national unity (GNU) because she is a political ally of the President in his toxic party, where knives are being sharpened in dark corridors?

Does our President not know that his pandering to the whims of his dysfunctional party and its errant members like Simelane, is contributing to the very economic stagnation and low growth that palace coups are made of?

TimesLIVE columnist Justice Malala sounded the alarm over this perilous state of interregnum that Ramaphosa and the GNU have us stuck in. Citing the shocking International Monetary Fund prediction that “growth is projected to reach 1.8% by the end of the decade, as investment recovers gradually on the back of ongoing electricity and logistics reform efforts”, Malala rightly insists that our political leaders need to come up with a plan for economic growth and job creation and implement it fast and soon.

He writes: “These numbers are tipping us closer and closer to a point where voters will pick any populist who comes along promising jobs to run this country. Or, let me put it differently: a victim like Zuma, or someone similar, has a chance to go out there and tell impoverished young people that he will solve their problems.

“Failure to provide a coherent and effective economic turnaround plan – which I still have not seen from the GNU – is tantamount to giving this country to the populist/kleptocratic nexus of the MK party and the EFF.”

Scary, right? It’s time for the motley crew in the GNU to screw up their courage and show us what they can do to turn the economy around so that real jobs in impactful numbers can be created.

If the President really means business, really means renewal of our economy and country, he will have to start by removing the cancerous ANC rot in every corner of the Cabinet and at every level of government: local, provincial, national and in state-owned enterprises.

And dare I suggest that ANC officials who do not live within their means and have led municipalities with successive qualified audits should not be rewarded with any government or ministerial post?

Share your views with me at [email protected]

Yours in defence of truth,

Heather

PS: Rebecca Davis, Nonkululeko Njilo and Chris Makhaye reflect on Jacob Zuma and his MK party’s year of living dangerously in our DM168 lead story. The two-week countdown for our DM168 bumper edition starts tomorrow and our iconic edition will hit the stores, pavements, mailboxes and lawns on Saturday, 21 December. The DM168 Bumper Edition reflects on the year that was and takes a look at what lies ahead for us in 2025. It also features the popular People of the Year awards as voted for by you, our readers, so if you haven’t yet had your say, please VOTE HERE now.