South Africa’s devastating message to the world

Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt said South Africa’s message to the rest of the world is that it is not a good place to do business.

Speaking to eNCA, Roodt said the recent burning of trucks on the N3 and Mpumalanga raises serious questions about government incompetence.

Most of the products carried by trucks should be on trains. However, because of Transnet’s collapse, trucks are used to transport these goods.

“These products are not on trains because of mismanagement, incompetence, and corruption,” Roodt said.

“All fingers are pointing towards the government, which is not doing what it is supposed to be doing.”

The disruptions caused by the truck burnings and N3 closure will cause further economic damage and increase inflation.

The biggest damage from these incidents is the message it sends to the rest of the world and local investors – “South Africa is not a nice place to do business”.

“Traffic does not work properly. The police do not work properly. Trains don’t work properly,” Roodt said.

“If you want to invest in South Africa, you have to think twice. As a result, the economy will suffer with the poor the hardest hit.”

His calculations point to no economic growth in 2023 and 2024, devastating for a country already battling unemployment and poverty.

“We are stuck in a growth trajectory well below population growth. We will stay there until we make big changes,” he said.

The biggest change needed to improve South Africa’s economic growth is improving the efficiency of the state.