Annual Research Report 2020

23 the successful implementation of the NPGD. The report focused on all the four drivers in recognition of the important principle that “the drivers do not function as a separate part but rather as a part of all the drivers where synergy is critical”. The review report drafted by Prof. Mabugu focuses in the main on quality of the plan, coverage, alignment, consistency, coordination and gaps and proposed various resource mobilisation instruments to sustainably finance the plan. Fifth and by no means least, as an- other illustration of community engagement, on Thursday 30 April 2020, Professor Mabugu was invited by the Presidency as part of a convened eminent group of 30 South African economists – from the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, from within government as well as from academic institutions, think-tanks, civil society and business and labour organisations – to assess the implications for macroeconomic policy of the emergency relief measures an- nounced by the President on 21 April in response to the Covid-19 crisis. In his intervention, Prof. Mabugu pointed out that the mea- sures have serious macroeconomic implications for the level of public debt and for the budget deficit, particularly as tax revenues are projected to slump in the medium term due to the crisis. He then raised two urgent macroeconomic policy priorities for South Africa within the context raised: First, the fiscal authorities should seek to reprioritise expenditure, control the public sector wage bill, manage cash balances and mobilise any surpluses in order to limit the growth in the country’s budget deficit; and second, growth-enhancing reforms should urgently be pursued to prevent a possible further deterioration in public finances. These re- forms should be founded on a social compact and on economic restructuring that allocates the burden of adjustment equitably. To achieve long-term growth and resilience, public investment in infrastructure with a high social value is required. Constraints on growth which existed prior to Covid-19 will need to be removed with significantly greater urgency. To summarise, at a time when the Covid-19 of 2020 dislocated lives in significant ways, Prof. Mabugu chose to see and seize research opportunities beyond the status quo, researching how we should change and manage the negative consequences of the pandemic and continuing with research-oriented academic citizenship in his journey. His modest successes in spite of the odds as a researcher, supervisor and academic citizen serve as proof of his desire for improvement and his ability to achieve it despite the many obsta- cles that are really part of life and a university environment, even when they may appear unprecedented at first sight.