How the world sees SA, post-budget – The Wall Street Journal
CAPE TOWN — Hands-on oversight, zero tolerance for wastage and crony tendering and non-negotiable deadlines must surely be the by-words for the new Eskom management – if their generous budget bail-out is to pay-off. Hopefully the financial 'sieve' which Finance Minister Tito Mboweni refers to has been sufficiently patched over to enable the new money to infuse new life into the ailing power utility and give it the required breathing space to begin recovering. Here's a summary of the kind of perspective that is shared by interested observers beyond our shores – many of whom will be delighted by the cost cuts, especially to the bloated civil service. That the Eskom crisis is being prioritised is crystal clear from Mboweni's budget, another sign that the soil being turned and enriched, with new seeds planted is a dramatic departure from the sick practices of the recent past. – Chris Bateman