Springboks score SA a public holiday…in December:
Declaring December 15 a public holiday to mark the Springboks’ record fourth World Cup triumph, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday night said the country should draw hope that with similar resolve it can overcome an ongoing economic crisis.
Their victory in the Stade de France on Saturday has “given credence to Madiba’s words that sport unites the nation”, Ramaphosa said in a live televised address ahead of this week’s medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS).
He said the team had given South Africa “bragging rights” and revealed much about the country they represent.
“At moments when their cause seemed lost, they fought back and they emerged victorious.
“As a people we have shown before what is possible when we are united, when we try hard and when we refuse to give up,” he said.
“Together, we overcame apartheid, ended centuries of conflict and gave birth to a thriving democracy. Together, we confronted and overcame the deadliest global pandemic in over a century. We are indeed stronger together.”
Ramaphosa then turned to the state of the economy, and said though there was some progress towards recovery after more than a decade of stagnation, South Africa was far from in the clear.
“Our economic challenges are severe.
“We are working to reverse the legacy of the past era of corruption and mismanagement of our state-owned enterprises, which has left us with a persistent energy crisis and an inefficient ports and rail network.
“And we are contending with a range of global and domestic pressures which have set back our economic recovery. And yet, there are clear signs that our efforts are showing results.”
He said electricity supply was improving, jobs were being created, state capture culprits were being brought to justice and efforts were underway to restore the country’s logistics systems to “world class standards”.
“These are reasons for hope.”
The president’s remarks on the economy come two days before Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will table the MTPS in parliament on Wednesday. With the commodities windfall on the wane, the minister faces a deficit crisis with economists forecasting a shortfall of about 0.3 percent of GDP.
Ramaphosa nodded to the debt-to-GDP ratio, saying government spending has exceeded revenue since 2008 and growth remained too slow to overcome the challenges South Africa faced.
“Load shedding has constrained economic growth. The underperformance of the ports and rail network is affecting our ability to get exports to market.
“As the minister of finance has noted, for every rand that the government collects in revenue, 18 cents go towards servicing our national debt. This means that we are now paying more in interest on our national debt than we are budgeting for the police force.”
The government would therefore recommit to stabilising debt levels and adopting a responsible fiscal policy. Godongwana would map this trajectory on Wednesday, he said.
“Spending on health, education, policing, and other essential services will be protected as far as possible.”
Remarking that the Social Relief of Distress grant introduced in 2020 “has kept millions of people out of poverty”, he said it should be stressed that welfare grants as well as public employment programmes were vital to support the vulnerable.
Since the only solution to unemployment and poverty was faster growth, he said, the government would accelerate the implementation of economic reforms over the next six months, with a focus on turning around local government.
Ramaphosa reiterated that reducing the severity of load-shedding remained the state’s biggest priority. But in addressing both the country’s energy and logistics woes, plans to introduce greater competition did not point to privatisation, he said.
“I want to make it clear that South Africa’s port, rail and electricity infrastructure are strategic national assets, and that they will remain in public ownership.
“However, introducing competition in operations – both in electricity and in logistics – will create greater efficiency and reduce prices in the long term.”
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Relief for motorists as fuel prices decrease:
Relief for motorists and households is on the horizon after Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe announced on Monday that the prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin would decrease with effect from Wednesday, 1 November.
South Africa’s fuel prices are adjusted on a monthly basis, based on international and local factors such as the price of crude oil and the rand exchange rate.
A statement by the department said the retail price of both 93-grade and 95-grade petrol would drop by R1.78 a litre. This means the price of 95-grade petrol will be R23.90 a litre, while 93-grade will go down to R23.44.
The price of diesel will drop by 85 cents a litre.
The department said fuel prices would be lower this month partly because of the decrease in the average price of Brent crude oil from $ 91.86 to $ 88.72 during the period under review.
The price of paraffin will drop by 97 cents a litre.
The Automobile Association (AA) predicted the decrease last week, saying in a statement: “These significant decreases will come at a very critical time for South Africans who have had to dig deeper into their pockets to fill up their vehicles and food trolleys with the previous cycles of fuel increases.”
The AA added that the drop in the price of diesel would be a relief for business owners in sectors such as agriculture, mining, and manufacturing.
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Cold, cloudy and wet Gauteng on Monday and Tuesday:
It will be cold, cloudy and wet in Gauteng on Monday and Tuesday but weather conditions should start to improve from Wednesday, the South African Weather Service said.
Forecaster Venetia Phakula said the province experienced minimum temperatures of 5°C to 7°C on Monday morning with daytime maximum temperatures of 11°C and 13°C.
“By Wednesday, things will start clearing,” she said. “It will be between 19°C and 21°C, which is still relatively cool but much warmer than Monday and Tuesday. From Thursday, that’s when it will start to warm up.”
By Friday, daytime maximum temperatures in Gauteng will reach between 26°C and 28°C, she added.
On Monday and Tuesday, widespread, tropically sourced rainfall would set in over the central and eastern half of the country, with heavy rainfalls and flooding being a distinct likelihood. The weather system would bring a dramatic drop in daytime maximum temperatures over the eastern provinces, including Gauteng.
Much of the Highveld can expect maximum temperatures in the low teens on Monday and Tuesday, the weather service said, noting that some high-lying areas may even see single digit maximum temperatures.
Provinces which may be affected by severe storms include north-eastern Free State, western KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, southern Limpopo as well as the Highveld and escarpment of Mpumalanga.
Cut-off low
The heavy rainfall and moist conditions are caused by a cut-off low weather system over the central interior of the country.
“It’s just a cut-off low, which will turn into an upper trough [on Wednesday]. We have a system that causes a significant amount of rain, especially over the central interior. When we have cut-off lows, you must expect significant amounts of rainfall and really cold temperatures in places.”
On Tuesday, significant amounts of rainfall will continue to fall over Mpumalanga, in parts of Gauteng and in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal.
Phakula said: “If we don’t get cut-off lows, we suffer a lot of drought so we need a few of them so that we can get a significant amount of rain and it can alleviate drought conditions.”
On Monday, the N3 Toll Concession warned that heavy snowfalls were causing dangerous driving conditions, congestion and traffic delays on Van Reenen’s Pass and requested motorists to delay travel there.
The weather service said the cause of the widespread, inclement weather was the combination of two weather systems, it said. The first is a “strong surface high pressure system, ridging well south of the country, that would introduce cold, moisture-laden air over the south-eastern and eastern coast and interior”.
Second, the development of a cut-off low over the central interior of the country would promote pronounced instability and uplift, “thus promoting rainfall … A further factor, which will enhance the likelihood and amount of rain will be the tropical nature of the air mass.”
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