South Africa's finance minister on Wednesday vowed to tackle debt and rebuild government institutions after the turbulent presidency of Jacob Zuma, as the ruling ANC party prepares for next year's election.
Tito Mboweni, delivering the medium-term budget statement to parliament, said South Africa "stood at a crossroads" as it faces rising public debt, low growth and record unemployment.
"We cannot continue to borrow at this rate," he said. "We must choose to reduce the structural deficit." President Cyril Ramaphosa, who took power when Zuma was forced out over graft allegations in February, has pledged to revive the listless economy by attracting $100 billion in foreign investment and cracking down on corruption.
A judicial inquiry is currently probing allegations that Zuma oversaw the systematic plunder of state coffers and of state-owned enterprises during his nine years in power.
"We must repair damaged government institutions, as their failure impacts poorer households the most," Mboweni said.
"There have been governance challenges at key state institutions. State institutions are being repaired and renewed, but serious governance problems exist across the public sector." Mboweni is the country's fifth finance minister in three years after his respected predecessor Nhlanhla Nene resigned just two weeks ago.
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Nene stood down after admitting to undisclosed meetings with the Gupta business family at the heart of graft allegations against Zuma.
Mboweni on Wednesday cut South Africa's 2018 growth forecast sharply from 1.5 percent to 0.7 percent this year.
"For ordinary South Africans, it has become a difficult time," he said. "Prices, such as electricity and fuel, have risen. Unemployment is unacceptably high. "Poor services and corruption have hit the poor the hardest."
"Too much money goes missing," he said. "We must restore good governance and fight corruption in all of its forms. Money that leaks out of the system is no longer available to support our efforts to reduce poverty."