President Cyril Ramaphosa will this week meet business leaders concerned over the implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI), which they strongly oppose.
Ramaphosa confirmed this during a media engagement on Friday. He said he was looking for “solutions”, not more problems with the act, which he has already signed into law.
The president’s partners in the government of national unity (GNU) have already clashed over NHI. Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi, however, has doubled down on the scheme, saying he was determined to push it through despite legal challenges and opposition from parties.
Ramaphosa said in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Thursday that the NHI bill had been signed “but I am open to talking about how this act is going to be implemented, which is exactly what I am going to be doing in the next few weeks. Having signed the act does not mean we are exempt from hearing all those that have issues. All I ask is that we be concerned with how we improve the health system.”
NHI, though, does pose a threat to the GNU and SA’s economic prospects. On Friday, international credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings again kept SA’s credit rating unchanged, saying that while the formation of the GNU lowered short-term policy uncertainty, risks to political stability remained due to contentious issues such as the implementation of the NHI.
Fitch’s rating remains at BB- with a stable outlook, indicating an elevated vulnerability to default risk. In its ratings report released on Friday, Fitch projected that the local economy would grow by 0.9% this year, 1.5% in 2025 and 1.3% in 2026.
Ramaphosa said he was confident the GNU would stand the test of time, warning that it was vital for SA’s future. Its collapse would be “ghastly” for the country and cast it into the “wilderness”.
On Tuesday the National Treasury and SA Revenue Service will brief parliament’s finance committee on the 2024 tax bills.
Ministers of the government departments that fall within the economic cluster will appear in the National Assembly on Wednesday to answer questions on how the new administration will drive economic growth.
The NCOP, meanwhile, will embark on a provincial tour to meet the provincial legislatures, the SA Local Government Association (Salga), premiers, members of the executive councils, mayors and other relevant stakeholders.
The delegations will also use this opportunity to conduct oversight visits to unfinished and abandoned infrastructure projects in the provinces. According to NCOP research documents, there are a growing number of delayed, abandoned or incomplete government infrastructure projects. These include schools, health facilities, housing, roads and water projects, which sit idle or incomplete, costing taxpayers billions of rand.
In 2023, auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke and staff of her office visited 132 infrastructure projects across the country and found that 82% showed either cost overruns or delays due to numerous material irregularities.
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