Pravin Gordhan must now act to restore confidence and trust

14 December 2015

The Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, must immediately act decisively to restore confidence and trust following last week’s disastrous decision to axe the former Finance Minister by President Jacob Zuma.

The Minister should, as soon as possible, begin to claw back confidence and trust by making a public commitment to:

- implementing the economic policy set out in the National Development Plan;

- maintaining the existing main-budget expenditure ceiling set out in the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS);

- stabilise the growth of national debt by keeping national gross debt below 50% of Gross Domestic Product;

- reject the proposed amendment to the “swap deal” at South African Airways (SAA);

- conduct a full cost-benefit analysis of the proposed Nuclear Build Programme; and

- act to maintain the integrity of the National Treasury.

The Minister must give an assurance that he will act to maintain the integrity of the National Treasury by retaining the long-serving Director-General, Lungisa Fuzile, and highly skilled staff who serve in the National Treasury.

To restore confidence and trust today the Minister will have to demonstrate that he has the political space to what is required to save the economy and avoid “junk status” in South Africa.  

Issued by David Maynier, Shadow Minister of Finance, DA, 14 December 2015