In a remarkable Twitter comment, Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina called for Durban harbour to be closed as a way of attracting foreign investment.
‘Democracy is nice and good,’ he tweeted on Sunday, ‘but to get our full independence from Western Imperialists we must close down the Durban Harbor so that no Minerals leave this country. In that way, International Manufacturing will descend to SA since we hold 90% of platinum, which the Works so need.’ (‘Works’ is probably a typing error, meant to be ‘West’.)
The reaction was swift and generally condemnatory. Mike Schüssler of Economists.co.za said Masina’s plan would disrupt trade to the detriment of the economy as a whole, and South Africa did not have the funds or power supplies to engage in mass manufacturing.
Azar Jammine of Econometrix remarked that as platinum was a dense metal, closing the port would be ineffective in stopping exports. In addition, alternatives to platinum could be developed.
SowetanLive delivered a blistering critique in an editorial comment.
It said: ‘The post would have been laughable were it not from a person holding such high office in a city that is supposed to be pushing Ekurhuleni to an Aeropolis – using its proximity to OR Tambo International Airport to turn itself into a major export and import centre. If senior personalities like Masina can express such dangerous and ill-informed “economic solutions”, can you imagine what else passes as serious policy debates in the ruling party’s branch and regional meetings? And these are the people who set the policy agenda for ANC deployees in government? Getting foreign direct investment is important, but Ramaphosa may also need to spend some time with his comrades explaining how modern economies actually work.’
South Africa’s mineral exports are in any event increasingly orientated towards Asian markets.
Masina has made no apparent retraction, merely remarking in a later post that analysts had ‘insulted’ him for ‘the view of Durban Port post’.
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