The impressive Minister of Finance

The impressive Minister of Finance – Trevor Manuel
Again, today (at 14h00), a glorious late summer day, just over +30C, it was time for the Minister of Finance to give his budget speech in parliament, awaited with rather more enthusiasm and interest than that of the head of state, that of the President about a week earlier.

There are some reasons why Trevor Manuel manages to attract attention, still after more than ten years at the helm of the finance department(see footnote). I will point at four of them.

First the opening; it is now a tradition that he would quote something from the Nigerian-British writer Ben Okri. So also today; the whole exercise was going to be more sombre than usual, no doubt due to the global, financial crisis as such. The opening was strong and widely applicable to us humans who too easily are caught up in hubris. This is the quote from Okri:
“If the things we face are greater and more important than the things we refuse to face, then at least we have begun the re-evaluation of our world. At least we have begun to learn to see and live again. But if we refuse to face any of our awkward and deepest truths, then sooner or later we are going to have to become deaf and blind. And then, eventually, we are going to have to silence our dreams, and the dreams of others. In other words, we die. We die in life.”

This was a budget speech and there was not much time to elaborate. When I heard these words in the car radio my head began to spin. How relevant, how true!! Manuel of course applied the Okri wisdom to things like the financial crisis, and what that meant to South Africa. Which are the hard decisions that have to be made? Which spending has to be cut? How do we reach the goal of transformation within the economy?

Okri however shot an arrow straight at my heart. If I speak from my heart I would have to say that the awkward question that has to be asked now is the one about our internal relationships in the country: how do we transform beyond the notion of race and ethnicity? That is the awkward question that is sorely avoided by most, at our own peril. Manuel did not talk about this of course, except for the fact that he towards the end spoke about unity. But that unity could just as well be interpreted as him saying that the safest way forward would be to stay faithful to the ANC, and that is how one should demonstrate unity.

The great thing with Trevor Manuel is that the man reflects on human life and culture in general, not just on money. I am taken by this attitude, I remain impressed. Hence the aptness with continued Orki quotes.

Secondly, Trevor Manuel lasts for the simple reason that he represents sound financial policies. He subscribes to a capitalist system with an open market, but not unreservedly. Today each and everyone, especially in the US, would say that government intervention and control would be necessary. This is the theme that his government has had for the last ten years. Governments have to control certain things and they play a role in terms of stability and fairness. I mean that the ANC government has largely succeeded in formulating a workable economic policy.
Several previous budgets for example have allocated large amounts to the alleviation of poverty and to overcome unemployment. The problem has not been with the government but with the so-called middle management. South Africa suffers from lack of skilled people on such levels as middle management, therefore it is difficult to realise gigantic road construction projects etc., which could be made very labour intensive.

Thirdly, as I have already mentioned, Manuel has again shown a genuine concern for the poor and their plight; in the present budget a huge sum (ZAR 778 billion) will be spent on infrastructural programmes including health and education. In his eloquent best he described the way in which the crisis in the world economy will hurt the poor. “Tracking the effects of a cutback in production of cars in Detroit or Shanghai on the factory making platinum catalytic converters in the Eastern Cape, then on the platinum mine in Rustenburg and finally on the woman who runs a vegetable stall outside the mine, he warned that what started as a crisis might well become a second great depression.”(Cape Times 090212)

Finally there is something with Trevor Manuel that is unusual with politicians. He has an immediate rapport with ordinary citizens. Over the years he has instituted what has become called “tips for Trevor”; people have been welcomed to hand in suggestions regarding the budget. Now he could let us know that over ten years he has received more than 20,000 proposals towards an improved budget, this year alone more than 2000 such proposals. A few of them less serious, also taken into account if not paid heed to. For example, one citizen had asked for leniency regarding the cost of whisky. I am not very fond of whisky, but the story is good. The finance minister related in his speech what a certain Mr A du Plooy had written:
“Please be more lenient with the tax on whisky for old folks. We have so little to enjoy. Things that used to happen after dark no longer happen. All we have is a little entertainment before supper”. Mr du Plooy thought that such a gesture would in the end also benefit even the finance minister himself.

There is hope for South Africa. She is not in a recession – yet, and probably will not be, unless all end up in a new unprecedented depression. As for Trevor Manuel, he has already proved to be one of the most influential politicians in South Africa since 1994 – and, as can be seen, there are many good things to say about him.

Foonote:
Some of my friends will vehemently oppose what I am saying here, the reason being that they see Trevor Manuel as deeply involved (as finance minister he had to) in the arms deal, which is fraught with corruption; the government is involved, perhaps Jacob Zuma, perhaps others as well. There has been a call for an independent inquiry, which is the only right thing. Even if Trevor Manuel is found involved unduly in the arms deal in a corrupt way, which is not proved yet, I still think that what I write here is warranted, and I stand for what I write, as my present opinion of things;