You suggest you are “starting to feel sorry” for Minister of Home Affairs Mangosuthu Buthelezi, for the delayed enactment of the Immigration Bill (September 28).
It is probably true to say that no piece of legislation has come under more intense public scrutiny and stonewalling tactics in the history of the new democratic dispensation.
While it must undoubtedly be a source of personal frustration for Dr Buthelezi and his ministry, the main loser is the South African economy.
Until this key piece of legislation is enacted, the government’s macroeconomic strategy remains half-baked, with serious consequences for the supply side of the economy. Currently faster economic growth is constrained by lagging fixed capital investment and shortages of skilled, entrepreneurial and competitive managerial personnel.
On September 27, the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Tito Mboweni, said that South Africa’ s market fundamentals were sound enough for the rand to appreciate against the dollar. He omitted to mention that the delay of the enactment of the Immigration Bill is steadily eroding confidence in the government’s commitment to attracting inward direct investment and is damaging investors’ perceptions of South Africa.
Not only would “South African politics and Inkatha” be impossible to imagine without Buthelezi’s presence, so will the country’s economic outlook be if the Immigration Bill is not legislated. Jon Cayzer, Durban