CAN SA SURVIVE THE CALLOUS CURSE OF CORRUPTION?

alarm bells are ringing as evidence mounts that it may take years before South Africa bounces back from its deepest economic contraction on record, with a recovery lagging well behind other countries hit both by lockdowns to curb the spread of Covid-19, and the toll which those measures have taken on global trade and growth.

The real culprit is not the pandemic itself but the policy paralysis which, for more than a decade, has blocked the private sector investment that could free the country from a debilitating low growth and rising debt trap, aptly described by finance minister Tito Mboweni in June as the “jaws of the hippopotamus”.

Lack of consensus among the groups which help formulate official policy – government, business and labour – together with a long list of regulatory hurdles, are widely seen