Janine Myburgh, president of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Good ministers have been axed and replaced by less competent ones while the most incompetent, like Minister Bathabile Dlamini, who presided over the social grants debacle, have been retained.
Most serious is that we have lost Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas, and now there will be no one to say no to some wild and reckless spending.
Their replacements do not inspire confi-dence and we can
expect a negative reaction from rating agencies.
One of the main reasons for the reshuffle was to clear the way for a nuclear deal, almost certainly with Russia. We know that Minister Gordhan was opposed to a nuclear deal on the grounds that it was unaffordable at this stage. It will become even more unaffordable as we head for junk status.
It is ironic that this comes a day after one of the world’s great nuclear reactor manufactures, Westinghouse, filed for bankruptcy in the United States.
The reason was that the cost of building new nuclear power stations had increased so much that it had to get out of the business.
Given Eskom’s record of managing major contracts,
South Africa should prepare for the
worst.
My hope is that
the shock effect
of this disastrous reshuffle will
bring the good
people of South
Africa together in a successful stand
against a government that has lost the trust of the people.
Government is about serving the people, not a small gang of conscienceless opportunists.
