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The Minister of Finance, Malusi Gigaba, is in full damage control mode following the appointment of Professor Chris Malikane as his economic advisor ahead of an important international investor roadshow in the United States.

The fallout from the appointment has forced the minister to issue a media statement distancing himself from his own economic advisor’s mad ideas and reassuring investors that it is not government policy to nationalise the banks.

The fact that the minister is in damage control mode is proof enough that Professor Chris Malikane should never have been plucked out of the seminar room, where his mad ideas could do no damage to the economy, and appointed as an economic advisor, where his mad ideas can do damage to the economy.

The minister seems to think that it is possible to “firewall” himself from his own economic advisor’s mad ideas and that it is possible for his economic advisor to be left to “think aloud” as he takes on what he calls “right wing economists” at National Treasury.

This is simply impossible and will no doubt send a chill up most international investors’ spines and will ensure a hostile reception during the international investor roadshow in the United States.

Issued by DA