OPINION: The election is over – now for the tough choices | by Terence Corrigan
The IEC announces the winners of the 2019 national and provincial elections. Photo: Deaan Vivier
Doing so will ultimately demand tackling a multitude of issues, many of them daunting and intimidating in the extreme. South Africa is located far from its key markets. Its savings pool is insufficient, and the rising cost of living provides little hope that this will change. The country suffers a debilitating crime burden. Its mediocre education system, meanwhile, shorts entrepreneurship and innovation.
Fine words, but their significance is diluted somewhat by the regularity with which such promises have been made over the years. Indeed, even allowing for the generally welcomed accession of Gwede Mantashe to the ministry of mineral resources, these concerns have by no means fully abated. The implications for the future of mining are not encouraging.
Since policy is a reflection of the choices that government makes about the direction it wishes to take, there is an element of farce here. Perhaps nothing is so firmly within government's power to alter or to adapt as policy. To refuse to do so is to submit to avoidable harm.
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