Red-tied Tito Mboweni charts new way of old thinking

Wearing a bright red tie – which may signal his conservative approach to fiscal management – South Africa's new Finance Minister, who insists on being called Governor Tito Mboweni "the eighth governor" signalled that he wasn't going to tolerate "heists" of any kind, he doesn't think much of land expropriation without compensation and believes South Africa is at a fiscal crossroads. He also believes that South Africans should be "open minded" about equity partners in some state-owned enterprises. Donwald Pressly was at the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement press conference.

By Donwald Pressly*

If "the Governor" has his way, fiscal management will make a turn for the better in the years and months ahead. He clearly has his doubts about land expropriation without compensation. Apart from the fact there is little change in the land reform vote in the medium term, he made a remark that he would rather like to keep his own farm – in Limpopo. His views of land reform came out when he mentioned that farms which had been handed to new recipients in his home province of Limpopo had turned back into forests. He implied that this should not be allowed to happen.

But he was most open minded about structural change at state owned enterprises. There had to be a reconfiguration of "state-owned enterprises… it means that (we) should be open minded, inviting equity partners" to be part of the deal. He specifically spoke about changes to the power delivery component into the national grid being supplied by more and more independent power producers. He also hinted that there should be more than one part involved in power redistribution.

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