Masa Kekana (@MasaKekana) is a South African journalist who has worked at one of the country’s leading news agency; Eyewitness News servicing four major radio stations namely – Talk radio 702, Cape Talk, K fm and 94.7. Masa has criss-crossed the country covering stories of national and global importance. She has been featured several times on BBC News in London for some of her headline stories such as Rhodes Must Fall. Joburgers are familiar with her voice not only for her top stories as a reporter on the ground but as the news anchor on 94.7 weekend breakfast show. Masa is the newest addition to the internationally award winning news show on M-Net; Carte Blanche. She joins the team of renowned researchers, producers, journalists and presenters contributing to bringing the truth to the fore.
More often than before we hear the phrase “multiple streams of income”. The old days of working for a single months’ salary are coming to an end, it seems. That one salary is running out before the next payday for a lot of hard-working South Africans. Every other week there’s news of a fuel increase which, in turn, has a ripple effect on everything. To put it mildly… things are tough.
While interviewing economist Dr. Thabi Leoka she put it aptly, saying South Africa is in ‘ICU’.
What comes after ICU? Well either you get better or death. So we have no option but to get better. But how would we get better if those entrusted to make the tough decisions are not making those right decisions? Our politicians are seemingly more interested in being politicians than public servants. The servant part is just not registering at this point.
Dr. Leoka put things into shocking perspective saying “Eskom’s debt is around R420 billion, and if you look at South Africa’s debt just pre-crisis (2008), it was just about R500 billion. So Eskom’s debt currently is similar to South Africa’s sovereign debt around 2008/09.” Let that sink in. Eskom is just only one of government’s several failing entities that are desperate for resuscitation. If only one of the SOE’s debt is equivalent to the entire country’s previous debt, imagine when we add the SABC, Transnet and SAA! It is a dire situation. Ultimately, as citizens of this beautiful country, we will have to pay to save it. One way or another, we will pay. It seeps into your daily life - next thing your hard-earned salary is just not enough and you have to find multiple forms of income to barely survive, never mind being comfortable.
Like many true South Africans, I am a sucker for the silver lining and that is exactly what the British Chamber South Africa gave. The British Chamber SA is the voice of British business in South Africa promoting trade. Its President, Leon Ayo, was soberly positive about South Africa’s growth path. Mr. Ayo is certainly aware of the all the problems plaguing South Africa but says, for hundreds of British investors, they continue to find South Africa as an attractive investment destination. He rightfully pointed out that South Africa is not isolated in this economic funk. Political and economic problems are all over the world. He is right.
The US-China trade wars are of concern, the Amazon burning is of concern, protests in Paris are a concern, the crisis in Syria is still a concern, Zimbabwe’s deteriorating state is of concern, the plea from protesters in Hong Kong needs attention, climate change and undesirable heads of State. Basically, there are storms everywhere.
But in our storm there are rays of sunshine. As Ayo pointed out, Africa is rich in human resources. Africa’s people are its solution. He said “In the past we used to mine the wealth that was under the ground. Today and in future, the wealth is on the ground through the people and their ideas and talents.” We are the new gold and diamond. But we need a fertile environment that allows for the gold to be processed and gems to be refined. We need an education system that works from pre-primary, we need great policies that are actually implemented and we definitely need government funds to go where needed. In our story on SA’s floundering economy, I mentioned that every time government has to bail out Eskom or SAA or the SABC, that’s money that could go to our failing health system or proper toilets at schools in rural areas. Imagine if Eskom’s debt of R440 billion was used to improve all State hospitals. Just imagine that! Let’s take the SABC bailouts and pump that into infrastructure or education. Imagine…
Personally, I use how much a full tank costs me to gauge how rough the economy is. When I first got my current car, my full tank cost around R800. Today, I pay over R1000 for a full tank. It’s a lot. The unfortunate part is, it is not getting better and probably won’t anytime soon from the looks of things. Phrases like “multiple streams of income” will be the expected norm in future. One job is not cracking it anymore. Not forgetting the millions of unemployed people who do not even get the privilege of that salary.
This is ICU!