Democratic Alliance support Tito Mboweni plan

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. Image: File photo / Africa News Agency (ANA)

Democratic Alliance praises Tito Mboweni growth plan

The DA was quickly to throw its support behind Tito Mboweni’s economic growth plan proposal, but warned it was sure to face opposition.

Democratic Alliance support Tito Mboweni plan

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. Image: File photo / Africa News Agency (ANA)

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has welcomed the growth plan published by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni as a practical and positive step in the right direction for South Africa’s economy.

The 75-page document was published without much fanfare on Tuesday evening. It contains a mixture of policy suggestions and proposals with the primary aim of stimulating economic growth and creating jobs.

If successful, the paper claims the measures suggested within could add as much as 2.3% to growth forecasts for the next 10 years and create an additional 1 million jobs.

“South Africa’s current economic trajectory is unsustainable: economic growth has stagnated, unemployment is rising, and inequality remains high,” Mboweni wrote.

“The government should urgently implement a series of reforms that can boost South Africa’s growth in the short term, while also creating the conditions for higher long-term sustainable growth.”

DA praises Mboweni plan’s practical focus on jobs and growth

The strong focus on growth and jobs struck a chord with the official opposition and they quickly came out in support of the plan.

“The DA welcomes the economic strategy paper released by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, which sets out practical proposals for reforms needed to get the economy growing,” wrote DA Shadow Minister of Finance Geordin Hill-Lewis in a press release.

“The proposed reforms are pro-growth and pro-jobs, and should be implemented as soon as possible.”

Geordin Hill-Lewis

However, the DA warned the plan is unlikely to be so popular with everyone in government and pledged to support Mboweni in the face of any opposition.

“The opponents of inclusive market-based policies in the ANC will now work to smother this reform. The Minister must not be intimated by the enemies of growth in his own party,” said Hill-Lewis.

“Now is the time to stare down the radical forces destroying the country’s prosperity, and he will have our support in doing so.

“The proposals are sure to be opposed and undermined at every turn by the radical left of the ANC, a faction that is bent on ever-more state control over every aspect of the economy, to facilitate looting and to protect incumbents.”

Geordin Hill-Lewis

Details of the economic growth paper

In his plan, Mboweni identified six key pillars that impact South Africa’s potential growth rate, these include:

  • Education outcomes throughout the educational life-cycle
  • Youth employment interventions
  • Effective and affordable public transport
  • Addressing the skills shortage
  • Delivering a capable state
  • Stable macroeconomic policy

In the 75-page document there are many, many policy reform suggestions and proposals, but some of the more eye-catching include:

  • Business and private properties should be able to sell excess electricity
  • Unbundling of the local telecommunications loop by allowing competition to use Telkom’s infrastructure
  • Public transport should be assigned to the local government
  • SMMEs should have different rules to larger companies, such as not having to conform to industry wage agreements
  • Government should pay interest on late payments
  • Relaxing immigration laws and encouraging skilled workers to come live here
  • Using special economic zones to experiment with policy
  • Allowing private competition for Transnet

“The proposed reforms centre on the understanding that only a growing economy can deliver real prosperity and more revenue for the state to spend on social services,” Hill-Lewis wrote.

“The paper also recognises that in order to grow, the economy must rely less on state control, that fiscal discipline is a virtue, and that government must welcome competition with existing state monopolies.”

Geordin Hill-Lewis