I see that the ANC has now promised to introduce a basic income grant within two years if it is re-elected.
My goodness. Clearly, President Cyril Ramaphosa knows more about the state of our national finances than every expert economist, accountant, auditor and politician in the country, because the way I have it, we are near broke.
This announcement should be chalked up as exactly what it is: another undignified attempt by a flailing ANC to cobble together a few extra votes before May 29, fully knowing that the project will be dead on arrival.
As with National Health Insurance (NHI) — which is already on life support — this stunt is fooling no-one. The ANC is scraping the election-promise barrel. Over the past three decades, it has promised jobs (we are still waiting), safety (a running joke) and service delivery (frankly, no comment) — and it has failed at each and every one of them.
Now, it is reaching for the stars in a Hail Mary pass, well aware that what it is promising is a factual impossibility.
Shaun Plaatjies
Johannesburg
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