Letters | How quickly things can change

A few weeks ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa spent about an hour and a half telling South Africans that the country had turned the corner. We are off the grey list, the JSE is up about 40% to reach record levels, economic growth is expected to jump to over 1,5% per annum with thousands of new jobs on the way. Then, Donald Trump decided to start war games with Iran because his economy was in need of a spurt.

Suddenly things don’t look so good; maybe we will run out of fuel. Not a good idea when oil shoots to over $100 a barrel. Stockpiles of fuel?

Well, we don’t have much; the ANC sold our stockpiles at a discounted price. Maybe driving a car will become a yesterday story. Will aviation fuel run out and bring air travel to a halt?

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What will happen to those millions of foot-and-mouth vaccines from Turkey that the government promised our farmers? Turkey is in the middle of the bombing going on in the Middle East. So much for our savings and pensions all locked up in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

It is reported that the JSE’s overall market value dropped by R2 trillion last week. Our government will be back to big deficits on the revenue account, resulting in higher borrowings at higher interest rates. It definitely doesn’t pay to shoot your mouth off in politics, it can come back and kick you. In a tender spot.

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