Pravin Gordhan lays down the law on finance
Newly re-appointed finance minister‚ Pravin Gordhan has briefed the country on how he plans to revive investor confidence in the economy following a disastrous week precipitated by the firing of Nhlanhla Nene as minister on Wednesday last week.
Gordhan began with an observation: "I see we have created a bit of excitement for you".
Flanked by the governor of the Reserve Bank‚ Lesetja Kganyago‚ and deputy finance minister‚ Mcebisi Jones‚ Gordhan said: "I'm relatively familiar with the terrain".
Turning to government's wounded public enterprises‚ he said: "Any support to these companies will be done in a fiscally sustainable manner".
He said that he planned to institute "wide-ranging reforms that will put them on a sustainable financial footing is non-negotiable".
He said there would be no reckless spending at SAA. It was widely speculated that Nene had been fired because he would not approve an expensive plan to renegotiate aircraft contracts proposed by SAA chairperson‚ Dudu Myeni.
"It is time that individuals or groups of individuals stopped playing with public entities‚" he said
He warned "anybody who thinks that the state machinery is there for their own personal pockets" that they would not be tolerated.
Gordhan said: "We shall endeavour to protect the investment rating of South Africa. Let us get down to business in a co-operative and collaborative way".
Earlier in the briefing‚ Gordhan recapped the massive negative consequences of Zuma's decision on the markets before saying: "It's fascinating that when a Monday morning comes along all those numbers have changed in a very positive sense.
"When a decision triggers developments such as we saw last week‚ a democratic government has a responsibility to respond‚" he said.
Gordhan said he would focus on building "a resilient and inclusive economy" in what he described as a "very challenging" global and domestic environment.
"It is our duty to continually earn the confidence and trust of the public. Confidence and trust does not get handed to you on a platter‚ you have to earn it."
Gordhan made it clear he would hold the line on spending: "Our expenditure ceiling is sacrosanct. We can have extra expenditure only if we raise extra revenue. We are going to redouble our efforts to ensure efficiency of expenditure in the public service".
