RECESSION: President Cyril Ramaphosa Has Reached His GEAR Moment

Thebe Mabanga

Well this time, he cannot claim to be shocked.

The last time the South African economy slipped into a recession, at the beginning of 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa had just ousted his predecessor Jacob Zuma in a Valentine’s Day coup and still basking in the goodwill glow of his Nasrec victory a few months earlier.

This time, as Stats SA announced that the economy contracted by 1,4% in the fourth quarter of last year and grew by only 0,2% for 2019, Ramaphosa has been in office for two years and he must have seen this train coming.  

The last time the economy dipped into a recession, it was rescued by a return of good rains and a bounce back in agriculture in the first quarter of 2018.

There will be no such lifeline this time.

Load shedding, which came a week earlier than Ramaphosa had promised and