South Africa's economic disaster: Ramaphosa compared to Nero amid rising trade tariffs

South Africa is hurtling toward what some economists warn could be an economic disaster, with President Cyril Ramaphosa accused of leaving the country in an untenable position as US trade tariffs, record unemployment, surging household costs and a weakening rand weigh on growth.

Yael Geffen, CEO of Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty, said last week’s rate cut is little more than a temporary reprieve. “We’re on the precipice of an economic disaster and while this rate cut will help for now, it might come back to bite us in the long-term,” she said.

Geffen laid the blame directly at the president’s feet. “President Cyril Ramaphosa will go down in history as the president who fiddled while Rome burned. Not only that, but he lit the match,” she said. “Ramaphosa has backed the country into an untenable economic position from which we will need a miracle to escape.”

By Nicola Mawson

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