Find government COVID 19 information at https://sacoronavirus.co.za
Home
FacebookTwitterSearchMenu
  • Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • News
  • Features
  • Knowledge Library
  • Columns
  • Customs
  • Jobs
  • Directory
  • FX Rates
  • Contact us
    • Contact us
    • About Us
    • Advertise
    • Send us news
COVID-19
Economy
Other

SA economy on life support as lockdown continues to wreak devastation

13 Jan 2021 - by Eugene Goddard
The ANC government is hard at work securing the country's future. 
0 Comments

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • E-mail
  • Print

The devastation that’s being seen on the ground as small businesses fold under the yoke of harsh Covid-19 regulations, and the long-term poverty threat as they’re prevented from eking out some sort of living, are far greater than the coronavirus, economist Dawie Roodt has warned.

The outspoken analyst of the Efficient Group said that on a trip through the Klein Karoo in December he had seen first-hand how mom-and-pop businesses, restaurants and roadside stalls had all closed down because of the government’s stringent restrictions on the hospitality industry and liquor trade.

“These are people with families who used to make a living for themselves.

“Now they have nothing. They probably have to go and live in someone’s garage.”

To make matters worse, the government’s finances are in no way capable of offering aid to struggling, former self-sustaining entrepreneurs.

“Unfortunately the reality is that even though things like pandemics happen, we should have the capacity to assist businesses through tax breaks and fiscal funding, but we can’t because of years and years of mismanagement of the treasury.”

Roodt, known for his harsh criticism of South Africa’s lockdown levels in the past, is not alone in his sentiments.

This morning Netwerk24 reports that Prof Jannie Rossouw, head of the School of Economic and Business Sciences at Wits University, said even if the government wanted to stimulate growth at micro-economic level it couldn’t because there was no money.

“Civil service salaries, grants, and interest on existing debt are more than the income of the entire government."

While warning that the country was on the edge of a fiscal cliff, Rossouw also mentioned that the government realised it had to keep the economy as open as possible – a view shared by Roodt.

Both Roodt and Rossouw said if there was anything to thank the National Coronavirus Command Council for, it was that they had approached lockdown measures with a lot more circumspection.

However, as for stimulating small and medium enterprise momentum, much-loved rhetoric of the government when addressing spiralling unemployment which currently sits at over 30%, the grass-roots economy’s dire situation may be beyond salvation.

“When people talk about the virus they think it’s about money vs lives. It’s not,” Roodt said.

“When you take away people’s ability to make a living for themselves you’re affecting livelihoods - and according to my calculations more people are going to die of poverty than the virus.”

“Run by a government that is parasitising off taxpayers yet has no capacity to provide tax relief when it’s really necessary, as is currently the case, South Africa finds itself between the devil and the deep blue sea,” Roodt said.

Services trade growth disappoints as goods trade rebounds

Domestic
Today 13:00
0 Comments

Import specialist to train gaze on trade sphere

Imports and Exports
Today 12:45
0 Comments

BORDER BEAT: Runners given the all clear after Zim misunderstanding

Africa
Today 11:45
0 Comments

Tragic pirate attack underscores need for psychological first aid

Sea Freight
Today 11:30
0 Comments

Rate hikes and lower bunker prices elevate Hapag-Lloyd’s 2020 operating result

Logistics
Today 09:30
0 Comments

‘Lines pricing shippers of low-value commodities out of the market on Asia-US trade’

Other
Today 09:15
0 Comments

NEW COLUMN: A premier asks the President to relax the lockdown

Africa
Yesterday
0 Comments

Early restart for SAA unlikely

Africa
Yesterday
0 Comments

Massive price fluctuations in fresh produce sector as Covid takes its toll

Africa
Yesterday
0 Comments

CFR achieves top employer status for second year running

Sponsored
Other
Yesterday
0 Comments

Ruthless attack raises the bar of militarised incursions by pirates

Africa
Yesterday
0 Comments

WCO looks at upside of Covid crisis as it celebrates World Customs Day

COVID-19
Yesterday
0 Comments

UK forges new partnerships in East Africa

Africa
Yesterday
0 Comments

Plans under way to link Tanzania and Uganda

Africa
Yesterday
0 Comments

Rocky Brexit transition leads to desperate measures

COVID-19
Yesterday
0 Comments

Crew resorts to hunger strike – some after two years onboard abandoned ship

Other
25 Jan 2021
0 Comments

TNPA to consolidate corporate headquarters – staff negotiations under way

25 Jan 2021
0 Comments

Citrus growers concerned over impact of Eloise on crops

Africa
25 Jan 2021
0 Comments

Reduced optimism for last year’s Q4 recovery

Africa
25 Jan 2021
0 Comments

Port of Beira reopens thanks to effective cyclone mitigation

Africa
25 Jan 2021
0 Comments
  • More

FeatureClick to view

Zimbabwe Feature January 2021

Column

Impassioned plea to President to lift some Western Cape restrictions

Alan Winde

Border Beat

Zim soldiers accused of curfew exploitation at Beitbridge
21 Jan 2021
Cargo stops as violence flares up in Kasumbalesa
18 Jan 2021
Eswatini border said to be shut down by Covid case
14 Jan 2021
More

Featured Jobs

New

Ceo

Lee Botti & Associates
Gauteng
27 Jan
New

Ocean Imports Customer Relations Controller CPT

Tiger Recruitment
Cape Town
26 Jan
More Jobs
  • © Now Media
  • Privacy Policy
  • Freight News RSS
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Send us news
  • Contact us