Cholera outbreaks pose a deep question about the future funding of the South African state (forget the ANC/DA sideshow)

[View in browser]( [Mail & Guardian]( M&G Mornings | Wed 24 May   [ron_derby] Sadly the outbreak of cholera in Hammanskraal, where some 15 people have lost their lives over the past week, came as no big surprise. More than 200 died because of a listeriosis outbreak, caused by food giant Tiger Brands, and we barely flinched, and no one has yet been held accountable. The lives lost are of our most vulnerable. We are not surprised by the cholera outbreak because water infrastructure, much like energy, is just one area that we face a multi-billion rand investment shortfall. The political point scoring is but a sideshow to a critical question that we all need an answer to: how does South Africa invest in its infrastructure over the next decade? We’ve rejected e-tolls, which is the user pay principle that countries without trillion dollar budgets often use to build critical infrastructure. With our balance sheet as bad as it is and a growing trust deficit between state, business and civil society because of bad governance and politics, who will fund the needs of what is an urbanising nation? (By the year 2030, more than 71% of South Africans will live in urban areas.) And on attracting these more risk hungry investors, what payment terms will we face as a nation? When the country began its descent into sub-investment grade (or the more derogatory “junk” status) in the second term of former president Jacob Zuma, politically at least some dismissed it as a non-event and attacked the three ratings agencies — Moody’s, Fitch and S&P — as a conspiracy of the West. The ratings agencies are deserving of much derision for past calamitous mistakes, including the US subprime mortgage crisis, but their judgments still matter and they are still the most trusted pricing agents of risk — even for big brother China. They matter to our all important borrowing costs in the future. Should our economy remain with such anaemic growth rates for an extended period, with stagflation our current affliction, revenues won’t be bountiful enough for an under pressure treasury (no matter who is in the Union Buildings next year) to allocate bigger budgets to infrastructure spend — regardless of how critical. They’ll have to resort to increased borrowings, which is fine in a growing economy but detrimental to ours. If we can’t escape this negative growth trap, our borrowings will paint us into a corner, perhaps into the clutches of the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank. When I look at Ghana, in a chokehold of the Washington-based funder, I quiver with fear — as we all should. Ron Derby | Editor-in-Chief [@Ronderby]( [Rooival]( [Cholera cases continue to climb in Hammanskraal]( The water and sanitation department says drinking water quality from the Temba water treatment works does not meet minimum drinking water quality [// Read more]( [Collen Malatji]( Premium [ANC youth league presidential candidate lobbies for second secretary general]( Collen Malatji, who received an endorsement from Gauteng, is hoping to add more women to the league’s leadership This article is only available to subscribers. [View subscription options]( If you are already a subscriber, login here. [// Read more]( [Dollar rising]( Premium [Where does SA fit into America’s ‘new consensus’?]( The United States is crafting a new foreign policy that keeps the economic superpower at its centre This article is only available to subscribers. [View subscription options]( If you are already a subscriber, login here. 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Their electricity had been off since Friday after cables were stolen in the area. Photos: Thamsanqa Mbovane [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Mail & Guardian Media LTD · 25 Owl St · Braamfontein · Johannesburg, Gauteng 2001 · South Africa