Have we been pushed off a fiscal cliff?

[View in browser]( [Mail & Guardian]( M&G Mornings | Mon 28 Aug   In 2018, then finance minister Malusi Gigaba attempted to bring some reassurance to taxpayers by quoting lyrics from Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 hit album, To Pimp a Butterfly. “We gon’ be alright,” Gigaba exclaimed. For the first time, the state of South Africa’s public purse had my full attention. Fiscal policy isn’t exactly the sexiest of subjects. You don’t (usually) bring it up while enjoying a meal with your friends. It certainly isn’t salacious enough to compete with the political scandal of the week during an over-a-cigarette chat with a colleague. But it is something that makes its way into our everyday lives, whether it be in the waiting room of an understaffed public clinic, or when you go to pay your electricity bill. A recent paper by the Public Economy Project on the country’s fiscal crisis contained this warning: “For now, South Africa faces a cul-de-sac of permanent austerity without consolidation.” As we count down the months to next year’s budget, the Mail & Guardian will be asking how we got here — to what certainly feels like a dead end. We chose to start with one of the treasury’s most formidable challenges — after, perhaps, the public wage bill, which we will get to later — Eskom and its fellow failing state-owned entities. The added benefit of starting here is that the state’s failure to solve the Eskom puzzle really does seem to inflict the most rage-inducing pain on us all. You may well be reading this while your phone’s battery icon screams red in the corner of your eye. In an article published yesterday, I trace the history of how Eskom became such a grave fiscal risk — and why, no matter how many bailouts are thrown at the problem, it looks like the utility will continue to put pressure on our public finances. Incidentally, one of the main characters in this saga, former president Thabo Mbeki, has recently come out in defence of the government over its Eskom blunder, which left us saddled with a 15-year energy crisis. In his take on the matter, Andile Zulu digs deeper into how the corporatisation of state-owned entities, along with the government’s failure to inspire economic growth, created the systemic corruption crisis that has given way to a new kleptocratic elite. There will be more in this series, which we have called The Fiscal Cliff. We hope it will inspire more budget-related dinner chat. Sarah Smit | Economics writer [@Sarah____Smit]( [EskomGettyImages-1240782692]( [Eskom: The fiscal monster the treasury can’t vanquish]( Among state-owned entities, the beleaguered power utility is far and away the biggest risk to the public purse [// Read more]( [GettyImages-1249256862]( [Ramokgopa: Load-shedding will continue into summer]( Winter recedes and the demand of electricity drops, planned maintenance, accompanied by rolling blackouts, will be ramped up [// Read more]( [Graphic-TL-Tau-Malema2-Twitter]( [Malema: Brics+6 step in right direction to end West’s imperialist domination]( Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema says Cuba, Venezuela, Palestine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo must also be added to the Brics economic bloc [// Read more]( Recommended Reads [Moscow confirms Wagner boss Prigozhin’s death]( Speculation about who was responsible for his death continue while memorials have been erected across Russia, including in Saint Petersburg, Prigozhin’s birthplace [// Read more]( [State-owned entities: A war zone between political and economic elites]( The corporatisation of SOEs has disempowered the South African public and benefited corporate power and private finance [// Read more]( [Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa wins second term in disputed vote]( The Southern African Development Community, European Union and Commonwealth observer missions said the elections had failed to conform to regional and international standards [// Read more]( [New gas find in Mpumalanga]( Gas has the potential to be a transition fuel as the country moves to cleaner energy sources, says the mineral resources and energy department [// Read more]( [Snapping the underbelly]( Lensman goes where others fear to tread to document the reality of life in the townships [// Read more]( Pic of the day ['Cradle of Creativity' in South Africa] Artists perform a theatre play during an art festival named ‘Cradle of Creativity’ in Johannesburg, South Africa on August 24, 2023. The annual festival aims to bring together children and young stage artists from different countries. (Photo by Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) [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