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06 March 2020 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Stephen Collett
Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank
Reserve Bank Governor, Lesetja Kganyago, presented a public lecture at the UFS on 4 March 2020.

With a 7% fiscal deficit on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) projected by the National Treasury for the 2020/21 financial year, it would not take long to arrive at a dangerous level of debt at the rate that South Africa is borrowing. Although the South African Reserve Bank Governor, Lesetja Kganyago, does not consider a debt to GDP rate of 60% a disaster, he did express his concern regarding the country’s fiscal deficits being over 6% of the GDP.

Governor Kganyago presented a public lecture at the University of the Free State (UFS) on 4 March 2020, focusing on how we should use macro-economic policy and its role in our economic growth problem.

Unsustainable policies 
South Africa’s fiscal situation is not about tight monetary policy. According to the Governor: “Weak growth is endogenous in our fiscal problems. We cannot keep doing what we are doing and hope that growth will recover and save us. Growth is low, in large part, because of unsustainable policy.”

Avoiding an impending crisis
To address the problem, as a policymaker with more than 20 years’ experience, the Governor suggested that the recommendations made by Minister Tito Mboweni be taken into consideration. “The Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, is a man who says things that are true even when they are unpopular. His message is that we have to reduce spending and he is right to put this at the centre of our macro-economic debate,” said Governor Kganyago.

The state needs a radical economic turnaround strategy which is able to diminish the risk of losing market access and being forced to ask the International Monetary Fund for help. Governor Kganyago is positive that such a reformative tactic would go beyond monetary policy and ensure that the interest bill ceases to claim more of South Africa’s scarce resources. 

News Archive

A campaign that rocks
2012-08-28

Ms Elizabeth Msadu
Linda Fekisi 
27 August 2012

The 2011/2012 Student Representative Council and Wellness Office on our Bloemfontein Campus launched the “We are your rock” campaign during Women’s Month. The campaign is a support system primarily aimed at female students. It addresses issues such as intimate partner violence, prostitution and students who go hungry. The campaign also caters for those in need of career and academic advice.

The idea for such an initiative was born out of a meeting between Dr Dina Darker, a pastor’s wife at the Kovsie Student Church, and Ms Elizabeth Msadu, a social worker at the Wellness Office. “Dr Darker was concerned about rumours regarding improper behaviour of female students and wanted the input of a social worker on the subject,” says Ms Msadu. “Many girls are in relationships with older men, which result in a high level of unplanned pregnancies that often end in abortions.”

How the initiative works is that a student in need will write her name and contact number on a rock or a piece of paper and put it in a box placed in our Women’s Memorial Garden. Ms Msadu empties the box once a week and contacts the student in need. She describes her experience thus far of the campaign as “interesting, exciting and an eye-opener”.
 

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