TLU SA is worried about the impact of Moody’s Investors Service’s downgrade of South Africa to junk state, given the worldwide threat the COVID-19 virus holds.
The focus of the government and South Africa should now be to combat the spread of the virus and the threat to human lives. The reality is that the capacity in terms of knowledge, infrastructure and the necessary financial undertaking is now the priority to have the required resources available.
“The economy was under immense pressure with barely any growth rate, even before the outbreak of the virus,” says Mr Louis Meintjes, the president of TLU SA. “We can debate the issue as much as we want, but somewhere we have to start being honest about the reasons for South Africa’s economic predicament. The bottom line is that the economy has not been able to accommodate the ANC’s policies for a long time, and we are now paying the price. The virus just made the situation worse.”
If the government has the best interest of the country at heart at all, it should realise that there is no other option than to follow the correct economic principles to establish economic growth. The price of the ANC policies is too high for South Africa and our future. We should rethink our focus, in this time of crisis.
The current challenge is to fight the virus, which places a great responsibility from all roleplayers. But after that, we have to let the economy live to establish stability.
“Today we ask yet again if the ANC is going to continue on the path of economic destruction, which has been the approach thus far,” says Mr Meintjes. “The establishment of socialism leading to communism has failed all over the world and only leads to poverty. The only beneficiaries are the cadres standing closest to the fire.
“South Africa urgently needs a policy which will instil the trust to stimulate much-needed investment. The principles of private ownership and a free market should be the base for the policy,” he says.
It is now of the utmost importance to build for the future, knowing it is crucial to take the economy to the point of growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ANC has the opportunity to choose the future of the country or to, instead, continue to try and protect the party’s future selfishly.
