SA not yet a failed state but it is a fragile one - economist
Standard Bank’s chief economist, Goolam Ballim, said that while South Africa was not yet a failed state, it is a 'fragile' one.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his State of the Nation Address to the Joint Sitting of Parliament at the Cape Town City Hall on 8 February 2024. Picture: @ParliamentofRSA/X
JOHANNESBURG - Standard Bank’s chief economist, Goolam Ballim, said that while South Africa was not yet a failed state, it is a "fragile" one.
He was speaking on the back of Thursday night’s State of the Nation Address, during which President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted his administration’s efforts to tackle state capture.
But speaking to 702’s Bongani Bingwa on Friday, Ballim said the country’s institutional fabric remained "butchered" and that his main concern about the state of the nation was the rule of law.
"Up to 75% of the reason any economy thrives persistently is because it’s founded on the rule of law or more extendedly a sound bedrock of governance. South Africa’s governance structures have been brutally undermined."
He said while some progress had been made at the SA Revenue Service, for example, this was the exception and not the rule.
He stopped short of labelling the country a mafia state or a failed state but said it was in a precarious situation.
"I would describe our country as a fragile state, not yet a failed state. Not yet, in the sense that we still have some pillars of our institutional fabric. The judiciary, in general, for example does hold fair muster. But the state is certainly fragile."