Former Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni on Tuesday night took on his colleagues in the ANC on nationalisation‚ the nuclear power plan and land reform.
Those still calling for the nationalisation of mines and the central bank were engaging in the wrong debate‚ he said.
“It is very difficult to explain this when you are in a party political conference‚ to say that the mining sector is no longer the major sector in the South African economy. There’s been a structural shift and the tertiary sector … is the dominant one‚” he said at a lecture at the Wits University School of Economic and Business Sciences‚ where he is an honorary professor.
Mboweni supported diversifying energy‚ including adding nuclear to the power mix, but said he was sceptical about the ability to implement such a programme. He was‚ however‚ adamant about transparency in the process.
“The danger … is that whenever there are large projects‚ there are thieves. So we will have to work out in detail a very tight project management process for this.”
SA would be “lucky‚ I think‚ to escape a recession” this year‚ and the 1.3% contraction in gross domestic product in the second quarter was cause for concern‚ he said.
Poor policy alignment and the poor relationship between land restitution and agricultural performance would haunt SA for a long time‚ he said.
An ANC mid-term policy review last weekend said farm owners should give half their equity to workers.
“The minister of land affairs sees as his biggest achievement‚ how much land is taken away from the commercial farmers to the disadvantaged communities. That’s his key performance indicator. (He) does not think (about) what is the likely impact of this on food production.”
The challenge with redistributed land was that often it was not used productively‚ he said.
The growth of the public sector was a concern and unsustainable. “The sad part … is that the numbers have increased‚ but the capabilities have come down.” — BDLive
Mboweni lays into ANC over key policies
Those still calling for the nationalisation of mines and the central bank were engaging in the wrong debate‚ he said.
“It is very difficult to explain this when you are in a party political conference‚ to say that the mining sector is no longer the major sector in the South African economy. There’s been a structural shift and the tertiary sector … is the dominant one‚” he said at a lecture at the Wits University School of Economic and Business Sciences‚ where he is an honorary professor.
Mboweni supported diversifying energy‚ including adding nuclear to the power mix, but said he was sceptical about the ability to implement such a programme. He was‚ however‚ adamant about transparency in the process.
“The danger … is that whenever there are large projects‚ there are thieves. So we will have to work out in detail a very tight project management process for this.”
SA would be “lucky‚ I think‚ to escape a recession” this year‚ and the 1.3% contraction in gross domestic product in the second quarter was cause for concern‚ he said.
Poor policy alignment and the poor relationship between land restitution and agricultural performance would haunt SA for a long time‚ he said.
An ANC mid-term policy review last weekend said farm owners should give half their equity to workers.
“The minister of land affairs sees as his biggest achievement‚ how much land is taken away from the commercial farmers to the disadvantaged communities. That’s his key performance indicator. (He) does not think (about) what is the likely impact of this on food production.”
The challenge with redistributed land was that often it was not used productively‚ he said.
The growth of the public sector was a concern and unsustainable. “The sad part … is that the numbers have increased‚ but the capabilities have come down.” — BDLive
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