“We are not going to adopt the rand for the reasons that we are not involved in the decision making of its value – whether it is depreciated or devalued or it appreciates, we have no say because we are not the South African Government.
“In the same way that we got into trouble with the United States dollar here, we have no say over its appreciation which is what puts us in the condition that we are in. As it appreciates like it has, we become the most expensive country and we are not competitive. We are not going that route.
“The route that we are taking is already clearly chartered. I have said so on many occasions. We are working on the macro-economic fundamentals to get our economy back on its fit in terms of higher production, reducing the fiscal deficit, taking care of the current account deficit, increasing more exports when building reserves at least three months cover for our imports.
“When we are near there, then we can talk about introducing our own currency. I want to make this clear. We are not introducing our own currency now until those macro-economic fundamentals are fulfilled.”
Full response:
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHINAMASA): I want to thank all Hon. Members who have contributed to this debate but I want to observe that it is a repeat of the debate on the Budget Statement. So, as I was listening, I could see speakers basically repeating what they said when they contributed and this is an issue that I think we need to be wary of next time around so that we do not waste time.
Madam Speaker, let me just make some general remarks. I think I need Hon. Members to understand me clearly. The reality of our situation is that out of every $100 revenue that I receive, 90% to 97% is going to wages. This means that I have $3 which I have to devote to service delivery and all the things that we are talking about here – roads, schools and clinics. That is the focus that we must give as this Parliament – to change that structure and we cannot change it by speaking in tongues.
When I say by speaking in tongues, it is that people come here and recognise what I have said but all the contributions are basically to say, spend more on that and on that and no appreciation that there is very little from which to spend on all those things. I think I know more about the state of the economy than anybody here because I have to superintendent over all the sectors. So, I know what the situation is in the health sector. The fact that in the health sector I am unable to find money to hire doctors and nurses, I know that. The fact that there are no drugs and equipment in hospitals, I know that. If you go to education, it is the same thing – there are no teachers or there is a shortage of teachers.
Infrastructure is in a dilapidated state and these are problems that have accumulated over many years. If we look at the railways, there was Hon. G.M. Ncube speaking about the railways. Some of our problems, especially with respect to the cost of doing business, are arising from the fact that the railways collapsed. They should be carrying all the heavy loads and leaving our roads only to light loads, then the damage will be less. As long as we have not resuscitated the railways, it does not matter in what we do by way of rehabilitation, they will soon be damaged because the loads are quite heavy.
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