The Presidency says reports of a secret meeting between President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Treasury are sensational and false.
This after a TimesLive article suggested that Ramaphosa held a secret meeting with Treasury at a wine farm in Stellenbosch, a week after Treasury proposed massive government spending cuts.
The report said Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, Treasury officials, and South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago were summoned to a marathon meeting by the president last week Wednesday.
Presidency spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, confirmed that a meeting did take place.
However, Magwenya said there was nothing secret about it.
“You cannot have a head of state meeting a key element of his administration or any element of the state, for that matter, be characterized as secret. The discussions may be confidential, for reasons that those discussions are not yet ready for public consumption but that does not equate to a secret meeting, especially when such a meeting is being held in a publicly accessible place.”
Magwenya explained what the meeting was about.
“To look at the fiscal challenges that we’re faced with as a country, but also at measures to stimulate growth because the fiscal challenges we’re facing are partly rooted to low growth, which has resulted in low tax collection. Therefore, it’s necessary for the government to then look at the curtailment of costs.”
-EWN
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