SACP denounces downgrade of South Africa’s sovereign rating
28 March 2020
The South African Communist Party (SACP) strongly denounces the rating agency Moody’s’ decision to downgrade South African’s sovereign rating to a sub-investment status. Others are saying the downgrade was obviously expected. As the SACP, we are unequivocally saying the decision is heartless, insensitive and inconsiderate: It was made in the midst of the global public health emergency, national state of disaster and nationwide lockdown in South Africa, caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).
A number of our economic sectors will not be running during this period as a result of the Covid-19 global state of public health emergency and its impact on our people and country. South Africa is not alone in this – other countries are also faced with the same emergency situation.
It is clear that certain global rating agencies and other forces want to usurp economic policy formulation from democratically elected governments, such as ours in South Africa, and impose a foreign monopoly-finance capital driven agenda opposed to the interests and aspirations of the people, especially the workers and poor. This is a class agenda, an offensive during a global public health emergency and national state of disaster, rather than a mere technical rating exercise.
The SACP is strongly opposed to that agenda, its related weaponisation of rating agencies, and all other attempts at exploiting the Covid-19 global public health emergency to undermine our democratic national sovereignty or impose private profiteering agendas. Our democratically elected government must be in charge of our economic policy formulation, within the framework of our constitutional democracy, in democratic consultation with the people of our country.