We need a government those respects and owes its allegiance to both SANs as well as the Constitution. We need SANs working, productive and contributing, there too many not working than the converse and while illegals filching and too many remittances, big business avoiding tax. We need an economy while mixed but also predicated on activities of the future such as those founded on and driven by smart technologies, artificial intelligence and high value-added outputs for local and outside markets.
I don't think smaller, a more proactive and less defensive approach to fixing the economy is what I think is necessary like mkoshtaffa said(implied) while keeping a majority in essential goods/services(electricity, minerals maybe ,etc.) obviously without the corruption which is another large element.
This is a sobering thought. Inasmuch as we do not appreciate bad news, I think what we as SAns make of your sage advice, is what makes all the difference. FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED.
But somehow MK, EFF and ANC voters want NHI, Increased NFSAS, "Land distribution without compensation ". I honestly think economics needs to be taught in every school
Social programs is not the problem here. The economy is not growing fast enough. When you politicise things out of context of the video you look ignorant and negative. Leave MK and EFF talk about solutions to the economy?
@@kambuyiblack7462 Wisdom is chasing you unfortunately, you are faster. Politics affects the economy. Policy makers need to make policies that reduce government spending
Economics actually needs to be taught from Grade 1 so that as you grow older it makes it easy to understand the economy machine. Now millions of adults don't understand how all of what has been shared in this video affect them in their pockets.
SA doesn't have 7.1M PAYE tax payers, 7.1M are people registered with SARS just cause they have a job - only 3.4M people earn enough to actually pay tax
😂😂😂Lowering government social spending would be political suicide. No political party wants to do that. It’s easier to keep this debt ball rolling and leave when shit goes belly up
People are starving out there, and I would argue that these social spendings are a protection fee that government are paying for people to not raise and turn the whole country up side down.
They are already doing it in sneaky ways. They tell single moms to bring the dad of the kids for child grant. They refused to give a old lady a govt pension because she owned a home of R450k. They introduced the 2pot system to make sure ppl working cannot when they retire go get a govt pension & they will get alot of 9k extra taxes from ppl plus if they owe SARS & try to get their 30k SARS will first take what it is owed. If your family gives you R460 per year you cannot get a SRD grant. I heard of someone being rejected cause they once had a laybye at Ackermans. More ppl arevonly given temporary disability grants that they have yo renew every 6mos knowing it will take 3mos to reprocess if it is even approved for the next 6mos. The NHI is also just about stopping giving govt & municipal workers medical aid subsidies.
We really do need to re-industrialise the economy as it will allow for home Productions be cheaper making things cheaper for the average South African in the long run
We need to stop making 'a minimum wage of just R27,58 per hour' an issue in this country, that money is simply not enough as is, It doesn't matter where you are in this country. We should not be exploiting people for the sake of creating jobs (like the DA wants to do). Talks of trying to reduce the minimum wage should not be entertained because things will look good on paper, i.e. reduced unemployment, but poverty will still be prevalent. The only thing we should be talking about is how to increase the pie.
People like yourself who advocate for higher minimum wages are usually motivated by compassion for poor people, and compassion is a good thing. But the ugly reality is that the real minimum wage is R 0,00 per hour ... because if you can't even get a job then you get no wages at all. Economic research has overwhelmingly shown that higher minimum wages lead to fewer jobs, so now you must make a choice: lower minimum wages and more jobs, or higher minimum wages and fewer jobs. In a country with 35 - 40% unemployment it seems obvious to me that we need more jobs, and whatever we must do to make that happen must be done. But I will agree that the single best thing any government can do for our country is to grow the economy. This should be the main priority because the pie is just too small for everybody to get a big enough piece right now.
Financial management is a crisis in South Africa and majority of our political leaders are to blame. Maybe before anything is spent, communities should put it to a vote first that way we have accountability as well as avoid corruption. Hush penalties need to be given to businesses that are hired by government that fail to deliver on services and products. Transparency, accountability and proper management are key factors to begin building our country
been saying the government needs to incentivise small business and stop these companies who only rely on government tenders. so many company created just for these tenders. and we need to start making things
Great work as always. *maybe just add the figures’ comparisons you talk about on the screen, *graphs and such graphics. Would greatly help audience keep track and understand the scale and gravity.
This is an excellent video, it’s been a long process to get here and it’s far more severe when you consider broader debt categories together including state owned enterprises and other categories, below is a breakdown of South African total debts. Here's a breakdown: ### 1. **National Government Debt:** - **Amount:** Approximately ZAR 4.9 trillion (as of 2023). - **Debt-to-GDP Ratio:** Around 71.4% of GDP. ### 2. **Household Debt:** - **Amount:** About ZAR 2.4 trillion. ### 3. **Provincial and Local Government Debt:** - **Amount:** Roughly ZAR 100-150 billion combined. ### 4. **State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Debt:** - **Amount:** Approximately ZAR 1.2 trillion. ### 5. **Corporate Debt:** - **Amount:** Around ZAR 3.7 trillion (as of 2023). - **Context:** This includes loans, bonds, and other financial obligations of private sector companies. ### 6. **Other Categories:** - **Financial Sector Debt:** This could include obligations by financial institutions, but they often overlap with other sectors and are challenging to separate without double-counting. However, some estimates suggest this might add another ZAR 2 trillion if considered separately. ### 7. **Total Debt in Local Currency (ZAR):** - **Total:** Roughly ZAR 12.3-12.5 trillion. ### 8. **Total Debt in Nominal USD:** - **Exchange Rate:** Assuming 1 USD = 18.5 ZAR. - **Total in USD:** Roughly USD 665-675 billion. ### 9. **Total Debt in International Dollars (PPP):** - **PPP Conversion Factor:** Assuming 6 ZAR per international dollar. - **Total in International Dollars:** Approximately Int'l $2.05-2.08 trillion.
We have all the mineral resources that are mined on a daily basis, Where are all revenues going to. It’s unfair for a normal South African our government is really failing us.
What is shameful is I work between the locations / informal settlements & to see those people live in those conditions vs where the MECs houses are. Not even houses, just the holiday homes next to the coast... R12M+ That pisss me off. They dont even build RDP houses out of concrete blocks anymore. If it's not Zinc plate roof sheeting, its plywood sheeting that they use and they still have to walk outside to use the toilet
Very insightful video, it was just was hard for me to follow the video without infographics especially with all the huge amounts mentioned maybe show us the numbers on screen and all the calculations, that will be amazing. thank you for the content
I appreciate the value of information in this video. Now i am even worried about why our government is proposing that we merge with RSA. I think it is best Lesotho remains a sovereign state for this decade.
When was decision taken? Yes we can't afford to absorb a lot of people even though you guys are the same as us. But the reality is that the people of Lesotho are already factored into a lot of our budgets
@@SabzKhumalo I totally agree, doing business in RSA is one of the greatest opportunities I have been afforded. I learned why Mexicans are moving to Texas State so much….. it is for the same reasons
No country can grow it's economy without Electricity.I love the guys passion about south africa.I left south africa 18 years ago because we had a power cut on our wedding night it was there that I decided enough is enough.20 years later they still have load shedding problems how on earth is this possible.We had ministers come to the UK and said we should come back and open up businesses back home,they called it the home coming revolution.How do you run a business with no electricity,instead they have made people more worse off by telling them to invest in solar panels these solar panels are expensive.It looks like South Africans are just exepting their new normality.
Can you do a video on how Sanral is spending money collected on those expensive tollgates , i feel like we getting robbed also why is Sanral not required to give monthly reports on how much they collecting . I think serious money is chowed there😂
Improve business funding for start-ups, as an entrepreneur I can tell you securing funding is extremly difficult. Change our education system which only teaches us to be employees not employers, provide incentives for youth to study and innovate not just to make babies.
We going no where fast... Here's what I think (that last part) 11:32 •Abolish the tender system. •Create mechanisms to boost the number of people working for organisation's such as SIU and SaRS (Practical and fruitful graduate programs). •Tax the wealthy... it can be done •Last but not list create systems to boost or improve ethics and accountability
Theres about R9 Billion untaxed. Approximately R6 Billion in spaza shops and informal trading industry and approximately R3 Billion in illicit cigarettes. There's also a few loop holes in customs revenue collection. Many big corporates also hide money offshore and in trusts all this has a ripple effect
That is why we are introduced to two posts system to cover for the shortfall and all we know is to run to imf and the world bank for borrowings as if that was free lunch , anyway this is part of the business model !
Many of the commenters say decrease government spending and reduce the number of ministers and deputies. Look at what the president of Argentina did. Fired almost 80% of government employees. Few months later, the country was out of debt, out of crippling inflation and was actually starting to make revenue to fund government initiatives and development plans. South africa has a government problem. Politician problem.
Very cogent points...all the while troika and bureaucrats have saturated policy spaces to the point that obfuscation and complication have clouded our decision making in the halls of power.
Zimasa, thank you for such great work. My contribution is with regards to what is needed to make this country "great again" (taking into account that we inherited a government debt in the fiscal year 1992/93, of R154,7 billion from the apartheid regime). We need to stop being price takers when selling our mineral resources to our customers, it does not make business sense. Even a person who is not a businessman/women knows that if you produce something you must set the price for that product or service. Changing this pricing dilemma would substantially boost our revenue.
industrialize and nationalize mineral resource, process minerals here in the country sell them as finished products atleast half of the extracted minerals
Unfortunately 2 pot is the recent play which will help them to raise min R8000 tax collection from withdrawals for roughly 10 million work force works out R80 billion 🤷🏾♂️ this could be more
I believe that SA de-industrialised too soon. We have a high number of people who would be employable in industry. Also it would be good to channel young people to TVET colleges for technical qualifications as opposed to university degrees but they would need industry to be growing in order to absorb them. But our leaders are so focused on social policy instead of economic policy.
The misuse of tax funds, the lack of services, the amount of tax being paid and the shrinking private sector coupled with hand-outs and the public sector wage bill and you have a problem
I don't agree with you on that one chief. Government finances it's spending by issuing bonds. They then set the debt service cost target against collections by sars. Debt is not a problem. The debt is used for capital expenditure projects. Taxes are used as a means to service debt. Asikho ekakeni. That's how global economies operate
That’s how global economies work, agreed, BUT… There are two problems with your assertion. 1. Capital expenditure in South Africa is not towards our infrastructure nor is it towards any economic enablers, it is going towards inefficiency and wasteful expenditure, not to mention theft; 2) the TAX base is shrinking over the long term, so to even service that debt, more tax payers i.e. income and vat which currently form over 50% of our tax revenue, are needed to grow, otherwise the so-called global economic system you describe falls over on itself and we start leaning towards stagflation territory… which can be succinctly put in Mr. Vabazas words “sise Kakeni”. The global market you describe is predicated on a productive economy as it’s life blood, without it you’re dreaming up socialist ideology…
you bring up valid concerns about the allocation of capital expenditure and the shrinking tax base in South Africa. I agree that if funds borrowed through debt aren't invested wisely in productive infrastructure or sectors that can drive economic growth, then the strategy could indeed lead to inefficiency, waste, and even economic decline. However, while the challenges you mention are real, it’s also important to recognize that debt is a tool that many countries use to stimulate growth, especially during tough economic times. The key lies in ensuring that the debt is used effectively for projects that will generate future revenue and economic benefits. Regarding the shrinking tax base, it's true that a narrower base can make it harder to service debt without overburdening existing taxpayers. This is why policies aimed at broadening the tax base, encouraging formal economic activity, and improving tax compliance are crucial. It’s a complex issue, but balanced economic management-where government spending is aligned with productive growth and tax policies support a broader revenue base-could help mitigate these risks and build a more resilient economy.
@@bonganindlovu2843 fair enough Bongani, and absolutely agree with your perspective, especially in respect to the fact that fiscal debt is a very valuable tool for building nations, and the wise deployment of said debt can yield unimaginable prosperity for that nations citizens. However, I’m afraid your perspective is a touch too idealistic since the actual reality, not only of SA, but of many other African, S.American and other poor regions have done exactly what our government is currently doing - they are mismanaging state resources and borrowing money to make up for those misgivings and instead of fixing the problem they are wasting and stealing more which in fact leaves not you or me, but our childeren and grand childeren in the deepest of 💩 we can imagine, especially if the current trajectory continues. The spending habits of this government have been seen many times by poor nations in the past nothing is new here, and many rich nations and developing nations have and are using debt to build prosperity for their nations, but YOU HAVE TO SPEND IT WISELY, which our leaders currently are not, not by a long margin.
@@bonganindlovu2843 I believe we actually are in agreement in the main aspects of your statement. The only thing i’m trying to clear up for anyone that might be reading our exchange, is that we are certainly in deep poop with the current actual fiscal management, and for as long as we do not have new leadership that manages our resources differently (in the way you describe), we will get into deeper and deeper 💩
For me Zuko Godlimpi they can talk as much as they can but deep down they are not going to do anything. For me my bro is for us to just to back emakhaya then start to gardening us in the cities we send money to grow those business and slowly the government will realise that we are not depend entirely on them. Any Politician will speak about free everything while they know is for their own benefit. All those in government want to be part of the elite of their families forgetting that once you are rich all african will come after your wealth. Lets start telling people there is no more free house free medication nothing is free. Force people to wake up do things on their own.
I think the spending is okay, we need financial liquidity to develop the nation, however the terms in which some of these financial instruments that government uses is engineered is the reason why the allocation of government spending is geared towards debt repayments. Let's rather re engineer the way the capital & banking markets are run so it focuses on development finance and giving businesses more leg room to raise capital, innovate and grow instead of debt repayments
I think the biggest problem in SA with the high levels of debt is its people, before we even get to these politicians. Educating the nation about these issues is very important in holding the officials to properly account, we do no hold our leaders accountable and the fact that we care less about a parties manufesto is a contributing factor to our ballooning debt levels. The road we are travelling in as a country needs to change, I completely agree that it is not sustainable, at some point the wheels will come off.
1) More people into agriculture this will create jobs, trade and input products for industrialization. 2) Expanding niche markets in SADC that big companies don't go after i.e export or trade consumer goods, Boer goats or tools. This also includes setting up shop or investing in properties that side. These are growing markets and we could offload a lot of Rands and products there 3) A good old-fashioned solution to unemployment, economic stagnation and debt is construction projects. Putting abled bodied men to toil, toil, toil and build
There is no issue here all Governments choose to spend more than they collect the only issue is if they invest the money in the public or they do the opposite
If the government remains on it's current trajectory, the country will default on its foreign debt. The dire consequences become clear if one studies the default of Greece in the 90s and it's aftermath. And the solutions are also given by history, by researching the times of the great depression in Germany and to a lesser extent the US. Both countries embarked on massive infrastructure development projects of a labour-intensive nature, such as the german Autobahns and the Hoover dam in the US. In practical terms, this could be as simple as creating township cleanup teams managed by local entrepreneurs, financed by local councils but monitored by a provincial (or national) agency to avoid corruption. Schemes along these lines took Germany from an unemployment rate of 80% down to just 10% in a matter of 5 years! Food for thought 😊
It is a given that creating employment opportunities is a way of expanding a tax base thereby helping itself to collect tax revenue. However the government dies not encourage re-industrialisation or at least beneficiation of the raw commodities here locally.
The problem with not closing down coal fired power stations is that Europe is actually paying South Africa billions of dollars to close them because they are concerned about climate change. What i am also wondering is where did the billions of dollars go because they did not use it all to buy the diesel that has been keeping the lights on these past few months🧐
It's rich that Europe & the US only now care about fossil fuels after it built their economies & want to stop Africa & Asia from doing the same. The colonizers still have their throats on Africa's necks & call it aid & loans.
Debt is bad when the economy isn't growing. The only way South Africa can manage/sustain is by: having the debt localized (domestic currency) and have sustained economic growth.
My suggestion is to have this video turned into a bite-sized clip/infographic with less jargon, have it pushed to everyone's social media, local newspaper, TV screens.. whatever! Just find a way to make more of us South Africans aware of this.. I'll start now by sharing the link
7m taxpayers cannot support this country. We need another tax bracket. E.g. 10% to 18% tax. Millions are earning less than r10,000pm and not paying 1cent of tax but they use all the usual infrastructure the the 7m taxpayers are paying for. Even a simple service like weekly refuse collection they are not paying for.
The decentralisation of our government HQ, spread out across the country , while offering early retirements for those who dont want to relocate. this will reduce the public wage bill and artificially stimulate the construction of schools , malls and housing for the relocated 800+ and family members who would be migrating to the new HQ office.
your channel is the best! I have an unpopular and strange suggestion that i need you with your superior research skill and intelligence to entertain. For me it seem the global market is crowded with specifications and total monopolising of industries. China has totally took over manufacturing anyone trying to go there will always be chasing a moving target. Even if we promote the idea of manufacturing, it is in the interest of any business to minimise production cost and headcount of labour, with automation and AI growing so fast soon manufacturing will no longer be the labour absorbing as we think. Another thing is we are choking our selves by refusing cheap products and throwing high tariffs to anything coming out side the country with hope that our own manufacturing will close the gaps, imagen if we paid a little bit of attention to the a specific industry that are not yet monopolized and own it while allowing countries like china to be free to dump their products at us at the cheapest prices. we can do this without totally killing manufacturing because that might be serious national security risk. So rather than trying to industrialise like china and Europe how about we try something different. Like exploring the financial sector of the world and learn and find innovative ways to bring the whole youth and unemployed crew with. Remove all the noise and fluf and go directly to the money source. In conclusion, I don't think we can win the industry game we are too late, this will only delay us and keep us as second chasers all the time.
There was no way we can carry expenses (medical, educational, police/security, social etc) of African countries and be sustainable, while those immigrants don't bank and don't pay tax, this fown fall was inevitable
@@mooshtaffa The State is the monopoly issuer of Rands meaning only it can print money through the central Reserve bank and also it destroys money through Taxation by using SARS.. So the state can never ever be broke. The reason they can't issue/print more money is because of stagnant economy which would lead to hyperinflation..
@@vavaland550iFalse The South Africa Central Bank is privately owned but would not serve the shareholders which are in the South African banks to destroy the state
Our country desperately needs to stop invitation for foreign investors and do the investing itself as a state, Japanese government gave out loans to everyone almost destroying their economy but it was much needed look at the 20 years from that crisis, most profitable and successful business their is owned by citizens who used those loans like Samsung and so many more
Our tax and government spending system suits the poor and the super rich and kicks the middle class in the nuts! The poor get the benefits and the rich earn the interest on government loans - the middle class carries the greatest burden considering their income.
We need a much smaller government.
ANC cadres will be very resistant to change
We need a government those respects and owes its allegiance to both SANs as well as the Constitution. We need SANs working, productive and contributing, there too many not working than the converse and while illegals filching and too many remittances, big business avoiding tax. We need an economy while mixed but also predicated on activities of the future such as those founded on and driven by smart technologies, artificial intelligence and high value-added outputs for local and outside markets.
You have 60% of the votes goimg to EFF, MKP and the ANC, those are all big government parties so try again lil bro bro
I don't think smaller, a more proactive and less defensive approach to fixing the economy is what I think is necessary like mkoshtaffa said(implied) while keeping a majority in essential goods/services(electricity, minerals maybe ,etc.) obviously without the corruption which is another large element.
Yes from 9 to 3 provinces, Africans and Africa don't know how to take care of the country and the continent as a whole
South Africa doesnt have a revenue issue it has an expenditure issue.
This is a sobering thought. Inasmuch as we do not appreciate bad news, I think what we as SAns make of your sage advice, is what makes all the difference. FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED.
💯 agree with you ‼️
But somehow MK, EFF and ANC voters want NHI, Increased NFSAS, "Land distribution without compensation ". I honestly think economics needs to be taught in every school
Social programs is not the problem here. The economy is not growing fast enough. When you politicise things out of context of the video you look ignorant and negative. Leave MK and EFF talk about solutions to the economy?
@@kambuyiblack7462 Wisdom is chasing you unfortunately, you are faster. Politics affects the economy. Policy makers need to make policies that reduce government spending
Economics actually needs to be taught from Grade 1 so that as you grow older it makes it easy to understand the economy machine. Now millions of adults don't understand how all of what has been shared in this video affect them in their pockets.
ANC, EFF and MK don't want smart voters ;)
@@kambuyiblack7462 you think politics doesn't affect our economy? 😕 Make it make sense 😔
SA doesn't have 7.1M PAYE tax payers, 7.1M are people registered with SARS just cause they have a job - only 3.4M people earn enough to actually pay tax
So 3.4M people out of over 63M people earn enough to pay tax , that is a very very worrying and small number.
😂😂😂Lowering government social spending would be political suicide. No political party wants to do that. It’s easier to keep this debt ball rolling and leave when shit goes belly up
Very true. It’s a can that everyone is kicking down the road.
@@mooshtaffa and when it does go belly up, it would be the fault of the last guy to hold the bag. So to speak
there are social spending that are necessary and lets say raf ? Which is a waste of money
People are starving out there, and I would argue that these social spendings are a protection fee that government are paying for people to not raise and turn the whole country up side down.
They are already doing it in sneaky ways.
They tell single moms to bring the dad of the kids for child grant.
They refused to give a old lady a govt pension because she owned a home of R450k.
They introduced the 2pot system to make sure ppl working cannot when they retire go get a govt pension & they will get alot of 9k extra taxes from ppl plus if they owe SARS & try to get their 30k SARS will first take what it is owed.
If your family gives you R460 per year you cannot get a SRD grant. I heard of someone being rejected cause they once had a laybye at Ackermans.
More ppl arevonly given temporary disability grants that they have yo renew every 6mos knowing it will take 3mos to reprocess if it is even approved for the next 6mos.
The NHI is also just about stopping giving govt & municipal workers medical aid subsidies.
We really do need to re-industrialise the economy as it will allow for home Productions be cheaper making things cheaper for the average South African in the long run
work force are lazy buggers on strike or stealing playing sick. investment goes to south east asia real hard workers
We need to stop making 'a minimum wage of just R27,58 per hour' an issue in this country, that money is simply not enough as is, It doesn't matter where you are in this country. We should not be exploiting people for the sake of creating jobs (like the DA wants to do). Talks of trying to reduce the minimum wage should not be entertained because things will look good on paper, i.e. reduced unemployment, but poverty will still be prevalent. The only thing we should be talking about is how to increase the pie.
People like yourself who advocate for higher minimum wages are usually motivated by compassion for poor people, and compassion is a good thing. But the ugly reality is that the real minimum wage is R 0,00 per hour ... because if you can't even get a job then you get no wages at all.
Economic research has overwhelmingly shown that higher minimum wages lead to fewer jobs, so now you must make a choice: lower minimum wages and more jobs, or higher minimum wages and fewer jobs. In a country with 35 - 40% unemployment it seems obvious to me that we need more jobs, and whatever we must do to make that happen must be done.
But I will agree that the single best thing any government can do for our country is to grow the economy. This should be the main priority because the pie is just too small for everybody to get a big enough piece right now.
Financial management is a crisis in South Africa and majority of our political leaders are to blame. Maybe before anything is spent, communities should put it to a vote first that way we have accountability as well as avoid corruption. Hush penalties need to be given to businesses that are hired by government that fail to deliver on services and products. Transparency, accountability and proper management are key factors to begin building our country
This would be the country that we deserve. What we get is a different story, as you know. We have voted, now all we can do is hope.❤️
been saying the government needs to incentivise small business and stop these companies who only rely on government tenders. so many company created just for these tenders. and we need to start making things
So much spending, yet no development.
Great work as always. *maybe just add the figures’ comparisons you talk about on the screen, *graphs and such graphics. Would greatly help audience keep track and understand the scale and gravity.
PRASA is improving, Transnet must also improve…
This is an excellent video, it’s been a long process to get here and it’s far more severe when you consider broader debt categories together including state owned enterprises and other categories, below is a breakdown of South African total debts.
Here's a breakdown:
### 1. **National Government Debt:**
- **Amount:** Approximately ZAR 4.9 trillion (as of 2023).
- **Debt-to-GDP Ratio:** Around 71.4% of GDP.
### 2. **Household Debt:**
- **Amount:** About ZAR 2.4 trillion.
### 3. **Provincial and Local Government Debt:**
- **Amount:** Roughly ZAR 100-150 billion combined.
### 4. **State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Debt:**
- **Amount:** Approximately ZAR 1.2 trillion.
### 5. **Corporate Debt:**
- **Amount:** Around ZAR 3.7 trillion (as of 2023).
- **Context:** This includes loans, bonds, and other financial obligations of private sector companies.
### 6. **Other Categories:**
- **Financial Sector Debt:** This could include obligations by financial institutions, but they often overlap with other sectors and are challenging to separate without double-counting. However, some estimates suggest this might add another ZAR 2 trillion if considered separately.
### 7. **Total Debt in Local Currency (ZAR):**
- **Total:** Roughly ZAR 12.3-12.5 trillion.
### 8. **Total Debt in Nominal USD:**
- **Exchange Rate:** Assuming 1 USD = 18.5 ZAR.
- **Total in USD:** Roughly USD 665-675 billion.
### 9. **Total Debt in International Dollars (PPP):**
- **PPP Conversion Factor:** Assuming 6 ZAR per international dollar.
- **Total in International Dollars:** Approximately Int'l $2.05-2.08 trillion.
We have all the mineral resources that are mined on a daily basis, Where are all revenues going to. It’s unfair for a normal South African our government is really failing us.
What is shameful is I work between the locations / informal settlements & to see those people live in those conditions vs where the MECs houses are. Not even houses, just the holiday homes next to the coast... R12M+
That pisss me off.
They dont even build RDP houses out of concrete blocks anymore.
If it's not Zinc plate roof sheeting, its plywood sheeting that they use and they still have to walk outside to use the toilet
Very insightful video, it was just was hard for me to follow the video without infographics especially with all the huge amounts mentioned maybe show us the numbers on screen and all the calculations, that will be amazing. thank you for the content
Thanks for watching. We’re working on a graphics language and visual ID for the Channel. It will improve 🙏🏾
Great recommendation 👍🏾
The xhosa interludes get me every time! You're doing such important work - thank you from London!
Thanks Zimasa, your analysis reminds me of Kiyosaki book "Rich Dad Poor Dad""
I appreciate the value of information in this video. Now i am even worried about why our government is proposing that we merge with RSA. I think it is best Lesotho remains a sovereign state for this decade.
When was decision taken? Yes we can't afford to absorb a lot of people even though you guys are the same as us. But the reality is that the people of Lesotho are already factored into a lot of our budgets
Lesotho & Swaziland have already been suckling at S.Africas teat for decades. It's about time you start calling us mommy.
@@SabzKhumalo I totally agree, doing business in RSA is one of the greatest opportunities I have been afforded.
I learned why Mexicans are moving to Texas State so much….. it is for the same reasons
Read "The Deficit Myth" by Stephanie Kelton to understand why countries cannot be run like corporations.
I’ll check it out 🙏🏾
@@encapseoulate Yes Government must not be run like a household.
Debt runs countries as the IMF and World Bank prefers
Yes I always wondered why things are so quiet. You can see things are different there's alot of drag year in year.
Very very very well explained - but doubt they will follow - sadly we are insolvent. And will get worse.
No country can grow it's economy without Electricity.I love the guys passion about south africa.I left south africa 18 years ago because we had a power cut on our wedding night it was there that I decided enough is enough.20 years later they still have load shedding problems how on earth is this possible.We had ministers come to the UK and said we should come back and open up businesses back home,they called it the home coming revolution.How do you run a business with no electricity,instead they have made people more worse off by telling them to invest in solar panels these solar panels are expensive.It looks like South Africans are just exepting their new normality.
Valid points bro,but under cyril nothing is or will work the guy is clueless, sisekakeni😊
Don't say under Cyrill just bcs he is not responsible for corruption, uneducated leaders whi are corrupt
we can definitely do better as a country; I appreciate your service to inform the nation about the important things of this great nation. 🇿🇦🙏🏿💚👑
Can you do a video on how Sanral is spending money collected on those expensive tollgates , i feel like we getting robbed also why is Sanral not required to give monthly reports on how much they collecting . I think serious money is chowed there😂
Botswana is going through the exact same thing but to be fair America created this house of cards
Improve business funding for start-ups, as an entrepreneur I can tell you securing funding is extremly difficult. Change our education system which only teaches us to be employees not employers, provide incentives for youth to study and innovate not just to make babies.
We going no where fast...
Here's what I think (that last part)
11:32 •Abolish the tender system.
•Create mechanisms to boost the number of people working for organisation's such as SIU and SaRS (Practical and fruitful graduate programs).
•Tax the wealthy... it can be done
•Last but not list create systems to boost or improve ethics and accountability
Thanks you for always keeping us in the loop
Theres about R9 Billion untaxed. Approximately R6 Billion in spaza shops and informal trading industry and approximately R3 Billion in illicit cigarettes. There's also a few loop holes in customs revenue collection. Many big corporates also hide money offshore and in trusts all this has a ripple effect
That is why we are introduced to two posts system to cover for the shortfall and all we know is to run to imf and the world bank for borrowings as if that was free lunch , anyway this is part of the business model !
Very insightful as always. Thank you for amazing information 😰
Many of the commenters say decrease government spending and reduce the number of ministers and deputies. Look at what the president of Argentina did. Fired almost 80% of government employees. Few months later, the country was out of debt, out of crippling inflation and was actually starting to make revenue to fund government initiatives and development plans. South africa has a government problem. Politician problem.
I'm glad you understand lowering taxes is the answer not increasing them!
Very cogent points...all the while troika and bureaucrats have saturated policy spaces to the point that obfuscation and complication have clouded our decision making in the halls of power.
Zimasa, thank you for such great work. My contribution is with regards to what is needed to make this country "great again" (taking into account that we inherited a government debt in the fiscal year 1992/93, of R154,7 billion from the apartheid regime).
We need to stop being price takers when selling our mineral resources to our customers, it does not make business sense. Even a person who is not a businessman/women knows that if you produce something you must set the price for that product or service. Changing this pricing dilemma would substantially boost our revenue.
Proudly brought to you by the anc
industrialize and nationalize mineral resource, process minerals here in the country sell them as finished products atleast half of the extracted minerals
Unfortunately 2 pot is the recent play which will help them to raise
min R8000 tax collection from withdrawals for roughly 10 million work force works out
R80 billion 🤷🏾♂️ this could be more
We are on our OWN
And everything they spent it on cost 3 x as much as it should have for African reasons.
Lastly from me. I appreciate how you make these SA economics education so easy to understand in less than 20min.
May you do a video explaining homelessness in USA
Not relevant
I believe that SA de-industrialised too soon. We have a high number of people who would be employable in industry. Also it would be good to channel young people to TVET colleges for technical qualifications as opposed to university degrees but they would need industry to be growing in order to absorb them. But our leaders are so focused on social policy instead of economic policy.
if it makes you guys feel better the Zimbabwean goverment spent 1.7 billion on 10km of road
😯😲how is that even posssible??🙆♂
I wonder
stop lying,conquer your own problems without comparison,
😂😂
@@chileshemulenga8790 I ain't lying they spent that much preparing for the sadc summit
The misuse of tax funds, the lack of services, the amount of tax being paid and the shrinking private sector coupled with hand-outs and the public sector wage bill and you have a problem
We should all stop paying taxes to fools. Now!
I don't agree with you on that one chief. Government finances it's spending by issuing bonds. They then set the debt service cost target against collections by sars. Debt is not a problem. The debt is used for capital expenditure projects. Taxes are used as a means to service debt.
Asikho ekakeni. That's how global economies operate
That’s how global economies work, agreed, BUT…
There are two problems with your assertion. 1. Capital expenditure in South Africa is not towards our infrastructure nor is it towards any economic enablers, it is going towards inefficiency and wasteful expenditure, not to mention theft; 2) the TAX base is shrinking over the long term, so to even service that debt, more tax payers i.e. income and vat which currently form over 50% of our tax revenue, are needed to grow, otherwise the so-called global economic system you describe falls over on itself and we start leaning towards stagflation territory… which can be succinctly put in Mr. Vabazas words “sise Kakeni”.
The global market you describe is predicated on a productive economy as it’s life blood, without it you’re dreaming up socialist ideology…
you bring up valid concerns about the allocation of capital expenditure and the shrinking tax base in South Africa. I agree that if funds borrowed through debt aren't invested wisely in productive infrastructure or sectors that can drive economic growth, then the strategy could indeed lead to inefficiency, waste, and even economic decline.
However, while the challenges you mention are real, it’s also important to recognize that debt is a tool that many countries use to stimulate growth, especially during tough economic times. The key lies in ensuring that the debt is used effectively for projects that will generate future revenue and economic benefits.
Regarding the shrinking tax base, it's true that a narrower base can make it harder to service debt without overburdening existing taxpayers. This is why policies aimed at broadening the tax base, encouraging formal economic activity, and improving tax compliance are crucial.
It’s a complex issue, but balanced economic management-where government spending is aligned with productive growth and tax policies support a broader revenue base-could help mitigate these risks and build a more resilient economy.
@@siZobonaMakeza well said. Nicely summed up
@@bonganindlovu2843 fair enough Bongani, and absolutely agree with your perspective, especially in respect to the fact that fiscal debt is a very valuable tool for building nations, and the wise deployment of said debt can yield unimaginable prosperity for that nations citizens.
However, I’m afraid your perspective is a touch too idealistic since the actual reality, not only of SA, but of many other African, S.American and other poor regions have done exactly what our government is currently doing - they are mismanaging state resources and borrowing money to make up for those misgivings and instead of fixing the problem they are wasting and stealing more which in fact leaves not you or me, but our childeren and grand childeren in the deepest of 💩 we can imagine, especially if the current trajectory continues.
The spending habits of this government have been seen many times by poor nations in the past nothing is new here, and many rich nations and developing nations have and are using debt to build prosperity for their nations, but YOU HAVE TO SPEND IT WISELY, which our leaders currently are not, not by a long margin.
@@bonganindlovu2843 I believe we actually are in agreement in the main aspects of your statement. The only thing i’m trying to clear up for anyone that might be reading our exchange, is that we are certainly in deep poop with the current actual fiscal management, and for as long as we do not have new leadership that manages our resources differently (in the way you describe), we will get into deeper and deeper 💩
For me Zuko Godlimpi they can talk as much as they can but deep down they are not going to do anything. For me my bro is for us to just to back emakhaya then start to gardening us in the cities we send money to grow those business and slowly the government will realise that we are not depend entirely on them.
Any Politician will speak about free everything while they know is for their own benefit. All those in government want to be part of the elite of their families forgetting that once you are rich all african will come after your wealth.
Lets start telling people there is no more free house free medication nothing is free. Force people to wake up do things on their own.
True the myth of free, freem free has to stop cause it is lies somewhere somehow someone pays & they pay dearly!
Here's something interesting...
No development ,no job creation.
Only #Loot😂
I think the spending is okay, we need financial liquidity to develop the nation, however the terms in which some of these financial instruments that government uses is engineered is the reason why the allocation of government spending is geared towards debt repayments. Let's rather re engineer the way the capital & banking markets are run so it focuses on development finance and giving businesses more leg room to raise capital, innovate and grow instead of debt repayments
And yet if you go to Bara or Johannesburg hospital you are going to die.
We really do have the tools, we just need more people willing to put in the effort.
I think the biggest problem in SA with the high levels of debt is its people, before we even get to these politicians. Educating the nation about these issues is very important in holding the officials to properly account, we do no hold our leaders accountable and the fact that we care less about a parties manufesto is a contributing factor to our ballooning debt levels. The road we are travelling in as a country needs to change, I completely agree that it is not sustainable, at some point the wheels will come off.
To increase the tax base, we need cheap electricity.
The DA doesn't want that. Hence they mobilised against Zuma who ended load shedding in 2015.
1) More people into agriculture this will create jobs, trade and input products for industrialization.
2) Expanding niche markets in SADC that big companies don't go after i.e export or trade consumer goods, Boer goats or tools. This also includes setting up shop or investing in properties that side. These are growing markets and we could offload a lot of Rands and products there
3) A good old-fashioned solution to unemployment, economic stagnation and debt is construction projects. Putting abled bodied men to toil, toil, toil and build
There is no issue here all Governments choose to spend more than they collect the only issue is if they invest the money in the public or they do the opposite
A voice of reason in the wilderness 👍👍
The tax revenue increase is just fiscal drag... While we're slowly headed for a fiscal cliff.
If the government remains on it's current trajectory, the country will default on its foreign debt. The dire consequences become clear if one studies the default of Greece in the 90s and it's aftermath. And the solutions are also given by history, by researching the times of the great depression in Germany and to a lesser extent the US. Both countries embarked on massive infrastructure development projects of a labour-intensive nature, such as the german Autobahns and the Hoover dam in the US. In practical terms, this could be as simple as creating township cleanup teams managed by local entrepreneurs, financed by local councils but monitored by a provincial (or national) agency to avoid corruption. Schemes along these lines took Germany from an unemployment rate of 80% down to just 10% in a matter of 5 years! Food for thought 😊
This guys the "one" ,speak king!
Can we talk about the fact that the rand is criminally undervalued!
It is a given that creating employment opportunities is a way of expanding a tax base thereby helping itself to collect tax revenue. However the government dies not encourage re-industrialisation or at least beneficiation of the raw commodities here locally.
A decreseing tax base combined with capital flight is bad news.
The problem with not closing down coal fired power stations is that Europe is actually paying South Africa billions of dollars to close them because they are concerned about climate change.
What i am also wondering is where did the billions of dollars go because they did not use it all to buy the diesel that has been keeping the lights on these past few months🧐
It's rich that Europe & the US only now care about fossil fuels after it built their economies & want to stop Africa & Asia from doing the same. The colonizers still have their throats on Africa's necks & call it aid & loans.
Thank you for this valuable information.
Money today is debt or bond. Government is spending debt on the wrong stuff.
The big problem is the interest payments we cannot pay a rate of 10 percent all the SOEs pay that rate even more that is the killer.
Great analysis
Great and insightful analysis.
Debt is bad when the economy isn't growing. The only way South Africa can manage/sustain is by: having the debt localized (domestic currency) and have sustained economic growth.
My suggestion is to have this video turned into a bite-sized clip/infographic with less jargon, have it pushed to everyone's social media, local newspaper, TV screens.. whatever! Just find a way to make more of us South Africans aware of this.. I'll start now by sharing the link
How do I swear and whistle at the same time 💀😲😳?? ... I mean sh*****t! 😩😩🙆🏾♂️
Well you're painting a bleek picture, what i would have liked to hear is what we can do as the public to enforce change.
Watch the whole video… towards the end I list what we need to do😉
7m taxpayers cannot support this country. We need another tax bracket. E.g. 10% to 18% tax. Millions are earning less than r10,000pm and not paying 1cent of tax but they use all the usual infrastructure the the 7m taxpayers are paying for. Even a simple service like weekly refuse collection they are not paying for.
Lets make South Africa Great again, sizodibana nini guys 😅
Basically we blew it, over trillion rand really😢
The decentralisation of our government HQ, spread out across the country , while offering early retirements for those who dont want to relocate. this will reduce the public wage bill and artificially stimulate the construction of schools , malls and housing for the relocated 800+ and family members who would be migrating to the new HQ office.
your channel is the best! I have an unpopular and strange suggestion that i need you with your superior research skill and intelligence to entertain. For me it seem the global market is crowded with specifications and total monopolising of industries. China has totally took over manufacturing anyone trying to go there will always be chasing a moving target. Even if we promote the idea of manufacturing, it is in the interest of any business to minimise production cost and headcount of labour, with automation and AI growing so fast soon manufacturing will no longer be the labour absorbing as we think. Another thing is we are choking our selves by refusing cheap products and throwing high tariffs to anything coming out side the country with hope that our own manufacturing will close the gaps, imagen if we paid a little bit of attention to the a specific industry that are not yet monopolized and own it while allowing countries like china to be free to dump their products at us at the cheapest prices. we can do this without totally killing manufacturing because that might be serious national security risk. So rather than trying to industrialise like china and Europe how about we try something different. Like exploring the financial sector of the world and learn and find innovative ways to bring the whole youth and unemployed crew with. Remove all the noise and fluf and go directly to the money source. In conclusion, I don't think we can win the industry game we are too late, this will only delay us and keep us as second chasers all the time.
Lmao@ sisekakeni, the respect in the tone of i voice ka mjita xa esitsho 🤣🤣🤣🤣
We spending on what i wonder?😅😅😅 government buildings are so underdone & they still have old systems. The government mara
Just so scary.
Spot on
Grootman can you educate us in what career fields are we to look for in the few upcoming years let's say +/- 6yrs
There was no way we can carry expenses (medical, educational, police/security, social etc) of African countries and be sustainable, while those immigrants don't bank and don't pay tax, this fown fall was inevitable
The state can never run out of its money( Rands)..
Explain this concept for everyone else. I am not 💯 onboard with it, for various reasons but maybe give people a short explanation
@@mooshtaffa The State is the monopoly issuer of Rands meaning only it can print money through the central Reserve bank and also it destroys money through Taxation by using SARS..
So the state can never ever be broke.
The reason they can't issue/print more money is because of stagnant economy which would lead to hyperinflation..
Thank you🎉 😂 because it looks like most people don't get it😢
@@vavaland550iaka the rand will be worthless if they print more
@@vavaland550iFalse The South Africa Central Bank is privately owned but would not serve the shareholders which are in the South African banks to destroy the state
Madoda, no economic policy but social policy in SA
You mean great, because we were never great, that again part is like Nigerians saying they are giants with a country that is two cents with of failed
Have you ever asked yourself, who is the debt collector?..
Our country desperately needs to stop invitation for foreign investors and do the investing itself as a state, Japanese government gave out loans to everyone almost destroying their economy but it was much needed look at the 20 years from that crisis, most profitable and successful business their is owned by citizens who used those loans like Samsung and so many more
I guess they'll recover with the two-pot tax
What was the state organ for collecting tax before ‘97 ?
Spending on free tenders hey , Nobody doing their jobs. Money for Mahala.
.like how you also brought solutions
ESKOM AND TRANSNET once those start moving the rest will follow
Our tax and government spending system suits the poor and the super rich and kicks the middle class in the nuts! The poor get the benefits and the rich earn the interest on government loans - the middle class carries the greatest burden considering their income.
Remove Ramaphosa