WHERE HAVE THE SO-CALLED RATING AGENCIES DISAPPEARED TO?.

There is a deafening silence from the so-called rating agencies, these agencies were so loud during the Jacob Zuma administration . They became so popular that we got to know them by their individual names because their opinions were paraded all over the mainstream media. These agencies released reports almost on monthly basis giving all sorts of judgments and projections about the state of South Africa's economy and governance. It was these reports which provided the basis for the mobilization against the Zuma Presidency because these so-called rating agencies gave gloomy projections about the state of the country and its economy. We will do well to also keep in mind that these rating agencies are foreign owned and controlled, and ofcourse are not democratically elected bodies but self-appointed bodies doing the bidding on behalf of global capital as part of the neo-liberal project to discipline the governments.

The so-called rating agencies are not bodies or structures that are democratically elected or controlled, but are bodies made of economists(pro-capital and pro-imperialism) . They work hand in glove with the Brettenwood institutions(World Bank , International Monetary Fund), these institutions are popularly known as the Brettenwood institutions because the gathering which gave birth to them was held at the Brettenwood Lodge in 1944. The rating agencies, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund play a key role in protecting the interests of global capital and imperialism by playing Police in ensuring that countries, especially those of the Third World toe the line and do not pass laws and policies that threaten the interests of global capital as led by the United States of America and Europe. Countries of the third world mainly rely on loans from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for the purposes of financing or funding their development in terms of infrastructure and their economy in general. 

In order for the countries of the third world to access these loans they are dependent on the ratings provided by these so-called rating agencies . A negative rating by the so-called rating agencies will certainly put paid to the chances of a country securing any loans from the the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It is these loans which come with all sorts of conditions that have ensured that countries of the third world are locked in the vicious bondage of neo-liberalism which is aimed at ensuring that the United States of America and Europe continue exploiting the mineral resources which are found in third world countries.

This defeats the narrative that the so-called democracy is about the will of the people(majority) when in fact we've got a group of unelected people dictating and imposing policies on the elected governments. Since the election of one Cyril Ramaphosa into the presidency of South Africa the so-called rating agencies have vanished into thin air. This is despite every indicator pointing out that things have gotten worse under the Ramaphosa administration, the question would be where have the so-called rating agencies disappeared to?. Why are they not as loud as they were during the Jacob Zuma administration, is it because Cyril Ramaphosa is a product of global capital?. Going forward why should we take anything they say serious when they have shown themselves to be mere tools for the protection and advancement of global capital against the will of the people who elected the government?

By

Teboho Sekhosana

Political and Social Activist

0844361494

sekhosanateboho9@gmail.com