It is concerning that the president has casually embraced the country's doomed economic reality, writes Qaanitah Hunter.
President Cyril Ramaphosa was almost flippant last week when he stated a very disturbing fact:
"The government, to a large degree, has run out of money."
We know that.
We also saw it coming.
But there is something sobering about the president so casually embracing our doomed economic reality.
For a decade, the warning bells rang and rang, but the party went on.
Year after year, reports of wasteful, fruitless and improper expenditure dotted every facet of the government and its entities.
It was compounded by wanton looting and plundering for the better part of a decade.
Once thriving state-owned entities are almost all teetering on bankruptcy.
Municipal finances have long been run to the ground, with Eskom this week even threatening to seize land owned by some municipalities who owe the power utility.
Empty pots
An economic recovery plan can only do so much - if it works.
But, as Ramaphosa said, they now have to "cobble up money" to try and revive the economy.
The pots are now empty.
And I don't think South Africans have fully grasped what that really means.
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On Wednesday, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said it wanted to pilot e-voting in the country next year to see how feasible it would be for the future.
Electronic voting would be a game changer for South Africa and democracy.
It could allow for more voter participation in critical elections, like local government elections and by-elections, which often has low turnout.
Rejected proposal
It would shift our electoral process to the next gear.
But, the proposal was rejected because South Africa simply doesn't have any money.
The chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo, said that, given the "the perilous state of public finances", the IEC's plans do not appear possible.
It is official: The days of nice-to-haves are over.
Ramaphosa's once grand plans of smart cities and tablets for every pupil seem like a distant dream.
The days where a president announces free higher education on a whim for political expediency, without running the numbers, are long gone.
Somebody must ask Finance Minister Tito Mboweni if there's still money for a sovereign wealth fund he bandied about earlier this year.
Appeasing factions
Even the ANC has realised that its unrealistic plan to nationalise the South African Reserve Bank was unworkable because there was simply no money to pay hundreds of millions of rands to shareholders of the bank for no tangible reason.
ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile told Bloomberg the resources that would have been used to buy out shareholders - a vanity project really - would be better used in infrastructure projects.
It seems like a concession that the ANC passed an unworkable resolution, which would cost the state billions it doesn't have - to appease a faction in the ANC.
READ | Opinion: South Africa won't be fixed and the worst is on the way
The ANC can no longer believe its own fantastical promises.
It has to accept the bleak reality that the state does not have much left and this means the crumbs left in the South African fiscus would have to be stretched a long way.
Tough time
Perhaps the disillusioned, couldn't-care-less attitude of Mboweni is indicative that he holds the keys to the country's purse, and that is actually empty.
If the ANC had a tough time making promises in the 2019 elections, it would have an even worse time in future elections.
Given the dismal state of the public purse, its manifesto would have to read something like: "We would like to give you a better life, but we did not tighten the belt when we needed to, we did not heed alarm bells, we mismanaged resources and we looted and plundered the remainder."
Its slogan for the local government elections could be succinct: "We bankrupted the municipality, but vote for us anyway."
- Qaanitah Hunter is News24's political editor.
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