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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. 

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International Literacy Day an opportunity to reach out
2016-09-08

Description: International Literacy Day 2016 Tags: International Literacy Day 2016

Sasol Library
Photo: Sonja Small


Library and Information Services and Community Engagement office promote literacy.

Fifty years ago UNESCO officially proclaimed 8 September International Literacy Day to actively mobilise communities and to promote literacy as an instrument of empowering individuals and society. This year this great milestone will be celebrated under the banner “reading the past, writing the future”. As we commemorate 50 years we should ask ourselves whether Illiteracy has been eradicated or not.

As part of its outreach programme, Library and Information Services, in collaboration with the office of Community Engagement, for the first time jointly celebrate International Literacy Day and invited members of the community to a book launch which took place at Lefikeng High School in Botshabelo on 8 September 2016. The programme also included the establishment of a small library at the school, and on 15 September, a writer’s day event will be held together with the Department of African Languages on the Bloemfontein Campus.

The book, “Amazing Grace”, was written by Free State-born writer, Charles Dunn. Dunn took the opportunity to speak to students and the community of Botshabelo about his inspiration for writing the book, as well as take them through his journey of life, from surviving drug addiction to imprisonment, and how he finally changed his life to become an author.

In working towards eradicating illiteracy, the Library and Information Services has hosted a number of book launches in the past, to encourage a culture of reading and writing among academia, students and surrounding communities, as well as opportunities for them to network with local and international authors. Feedback from these events bears testimony that indeed the library is successful in creating spaces for lifelong learning.

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