South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Thursday that while he was made newsmaker of the year on Wednesday night, it was the economy in the past year that was actually newsmaker of the year.
However, he added that there are still many things that need to be done, with education one of the biggest challenges going forward, and another, remuneration in the police service.
“I was just a proxy for the economy. We celebrate those gains but need to remember they weren’t just made last year, but reflect the decisions over the past decade,” said Manuel.
“Some of those decisions will take a long time to work through the system and many are inter-generational problems,” he said.
“There are still many things we need to do and there are matters that need immediate and serious interventions,” he said.
“One is education. If you look at it, it’s a national problem that requires all of our attention,” said Manuel.
“It is profoundly a national crisis,” said Manuel.
“One of the difficulties is we are not attracting sufficient people. In those terms the situation is moving backwards,” he added.
“Also, are educators, policemen and policewomen remunerated sufficiently and what is sufficient?” he asked.
Manuel said there are areas where things could have been done better over the past decade.
“We could have done better in some areas. For instance, there was a premise we would deliver because we had a social compact between business, labour and government. We should have been firmer and avoided negotiating brinkmanship where a chasm grew on issues where we needed solidity,” said Manuel.
Manuel also said the government did not take account of the costs and benefits of South Africa rejoining the global economy.
“We have lived through eight financial crises, with 1997/1998 being a very difficult period for developing countries worldwide,” said Manuel.
On the positive front, Manuel said he would like to highlight that South Africa’s public finance management system could hold its own with the best of them.
“We have better quality information than any other government in the world,” said Manuel. — I-Net Bridge