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Cape Town, Jan 30 (I-Net Bridge) - Seemingly conflicting statements by President Jacob Zuma and Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba illustrate government's inability to articulate a coherent economic policy that would create jobs and generate growth, says Democratic Alliance shadow finance minister Dion George.
On Monday, George reacted to statements by Zuma and Gigaba.
Zuma reportedly said at the World Economic Form over the weekend that government would focus on enabling the private sector to drive growth and job creation.
Speaking in SA over the weekend Gigaba - who had just returned from an official trip to China where he apparently became enamoured with the model of centralised state control of public companies - said he wanted to create one "super department" to drive growth and jobs.
"So, which one is it? Does the national government want to unlock the potential of business to create millions of jobs? Or does it want to go with a statist approach that has been detrimental to economic growth and job creation the world over?" George asked.
He said there was no wonder that there was policy confusion.
"On the one hand we have the New Growth Path, which proposes increased state involvement in the economy and, on the other, we have the National Development Plan, which argues for less government intervention," he said.
George asked which messenger and which plan SA and foreign investors could look to as a blueprint for the country's future.
"No one really knows, because every few weeks we hear contradicting messages. This hurts confidence in our economy and makes job creation significantly more difficult than it ought to be," he said.
George added that international ratings agencies Moody's and Fitch confirmed this when they downgraded SA's debt outlook, partly due to policy uncertainty.
"The fact of the matter is that we need a coherent economy policy that is focused on helping the private sector to create as many jobs as possible. That is the path to prosperity for all South Africans."
George pointed out that Zuma, now halfway through his term of office, was set to muddle through a third year of policy confusion.
"This can only cast doubt over our economic prospects and is likely to make job creation and economic growth even more difficult than it already is," George said.
