Thomas Johnson - The Blog

Hilary Joffe writes in Business Day that a downgrade is a particularly “miserable prospect” for the banks.  You don’t say. A downgrade was probable even before finance minister Pravin Gordhan took his roadshow to London and New York because the Sona and budget had failed to address the structural economic weaknesses.    The plans that Christo Wiese, Colin Coleman and Cas Coovadia outlined in their Sunday Times op-ed SA has 3 months to save itself is unlikely ever to be implemented in 10 years, never mind three months.  Get real. A downgrade is likely now that Gordhan is under threat from the Hawks and elements in the ANC, who probably want the country to be a wreck so they could capture the spoils at a fire-sale. What has become of the good intentions government and business spoke about after Gordhan’s reappointment in December?  With the arguably more serious situation we are in now than December, where are the high-power...

The Titanic analogy has been used to describe the sinking ship South Africa , the latest by Bruce Whitfield in the Business Times . One story, as retold in the Oscar-winning movie Titanic , says captain Edward Smith locked himself in the bridge and ignored pleas for help and leadership from crew and passengers. I thought of that story when I worked for an organisation where management hid in their offices - literally - while incipient disorder prevailed. President Jacob Zuma, the cabinet and ANC are like the apocryphal Smith. But the blame for the mess we're in cannot only be left to the ANC alliance. Business leaders and the sycophantic business media and analysts who, until the ratings cliff and Nhlanhla Nene's firing, refused to acknowledge or honestly speak about the trouble the economy was heading for.  I'm  not an economist, and I could predict the potential danger! Business, ANC-aligned media and taxpayers praised the recent budget that sought...