A President Unleashed

Ramaphosa poised to lead South Africa to recovery, Standard Bank says

By David Whitehouse

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Posted on June 24, 2021 18:36

South Africa Corruption Inquiry © South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s first major reshuffle includes the appointment of Enoch Godongwana as finance minister. 
(AP Photo/Kim Ludbrook/Pool)
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s first major reshuffle includes the appointment of Enoch Godongwana as finance minister. (AP Photo/Kim Ludbrook/Pool)

South Africa is “unequivocally” on the path to recovery as President Cyril Ramaphosa’s strengthened authority is reflected in a series of recent reforms, Standard Bank chief economist Goolam Ballim tells The Africa Report.

Reform of power-generation rules, agreement to allow majority private ownership of South African Airways (SAA) and prosecutions for alleged corruption under former president Jacob Zuma mean Ramaphosa now stands as a “president unleashed,” Ballim says from Johannesburg.

The odds are improving that Ramaphosa will win a second term, which, Ballim says, would open the prospect of a “decade of resurgence” for South Africa.

Ramaphosa this month publicly overruled Gwede Mantashe, minister for mineral resources and energy, by announcing that private companies will be able to generate up to 100MW of their own power without a licence. The reform will create pressure for further changes.

NKC African Economics analyst Louw Nel argues that power generation has joined a long and growing list of things that companies and affluent South Africans are looking to source privately rather than from the

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