COVID-19 and the SA economy in 2020: ‘We need to close the hippo’s mouth’ Finance Minister Tito Mboweni this year noted the biggest contraction in the economy in nearly 90 years and the need to close the gap between government’s income and its spending – the hippo’s wide-open mouth. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. Picture: @TreasurySA/Twitter
84 days ago
CAPE TOWN - All the stresses and strains on the economy played through Parliament this past year. The arrival of the coronavirus on our shores made things only that much worse.
Lawmakers had to rush to approve Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s February budget, which had no sooner been tabled when Treasury had to craft a new emergency Budget to deal with the crisis unleashed by COVID-19.
March 2021 a watershed for retirement funds in South Africa: 5 things you need to know
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1 March 2021 marks a watershed for retirement funds in South Africa, says Jean du Toit, attorney and head of tax technical at Tax Consulting South Africa.
Most are focussed on the annuitisation rules that have been pending since 1 March 2015, otherwise known as ‘T-day’.
While these reforms are significant, retirement fund members need to understand them in the grand scheme of things.
T-day reforms
Back in 2013, the then minister of finance, Pravin Gordhan, tabled proposals directed at the governance, preservation, annuitisation and harmonisation of retirement funds.
Initially, T-day was earmarked for 1 March 2015, but was postponed as a result of ongoing “consultations” with stakeholders.
By now, we’ve all seen the headlines about South Africa’s 51% GDP contraction for the second quarter of 2020, a 16.4% decrease compared with the first quarter. While it bounced back in the third, it’s still worrying. Stats SA reported an unemployment rate of 35% in the second quarter and bank processing data have revealed that only one in five South Africans has received their full salaries since April 2020.
We always knew the national lockdown meant sacrificing economic growth for the sake of containing Covid-19. And South Africa is not alone: the world is grappling with the fallout of what will probably be a deep recession for years. So, how do you continue to pay a public sector wage bill of R640-billion and make good on your plans for social grants and financial relief? The answer is, borrow more money.
First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.
Letters spelling out “National Assembly” have appeared on the gable above the pillars of the people’s House. It’s ludicrous. The National Assembly doesn’t need letters to spell out what it is.
That building is central to the ceremonial, like the president pausing for the national anthem before the State of the Nation Address – the next is scheduled for 11 February 2021 – and to demonstrations regularly held at the gates of Parliament.
One reason Madiba’s bust was placed in front of the National Assembly in 2014 was precisely because that building is well-known and high-profile – and the bust, like the National Assembly entrance, is within plain view from the street.
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