Out of the mouths of babes’ is a well-known phrase in the Bible that implies that there is truth and wisdom in the comments and observations of children, who are honest and innocent.

I am on the bus with my young son, having just collected him from summer camp. We are travelling through Wimbledon, which, only days earlier, played host to the memor- able Wimbledon tennis championships, hosted by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, not least of which was attributable to Roger Federer, who, just a few days from this thirty-sixth birthday, won his eighth Wimbledon men’s singles tennis title. For those who are not aware of the fact, Federer is part South African. Wondering? His mother was born in South Africa.

It goes without saying that Federer is my son’s idol, which is further reinforced by the fact that my son’s tennis racket carries his Wilson branding and the Federer name. The latter, according to my son, is proof that it had been Federer’s. Why else would his name be on the tennis racket? (All my son’s school clothes and sports equipment are marked with Federer’s name.) I am not telling my son otherwise.

On the bus, my son is not his cheerful self; I find him a bit despondent. When I enquire, it takes a bit of time for me to get to know the reason. His mood is attributable to today’s tennis match, which he lost by a point. A single, solitary point. I did what any dad would do. I offered a bit of cheer and motivation, and concluded by telling him: “If you practise, you can improve, and then next time you will win.” Without hesitation, he looks me straight in the eye and responds: “It is not about improving, it is about the points.”

It made me think of something I had read only days earlier, on July 13, to be exact. At the time, I promised myself that I would not write about it. But spoiler alert – broken promise to follow. On that day – shall we say fateful day? – the National Treasury released a media statement titled ‘Govern- ment’s Inclusive Growth Action Plan’. If you consider the 14 ‘innovation’ headlines, they contradict the title. But we will get to that momentarily. ‘Inclusive’ is defined as deliberately avoiding usages that could be seen as excluding a particular social group. To be factual, ‘inclusive’ should be replaced with ‘exclusive’. And ‘plan’ is defined as a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something. It is the how, if you will. To be accurate, ‘plan’ should be replaced with ‘list’.

So, more accurately, the statement should have been titled: “Government’s Exclusive Growth Action List”, but this is merely superficial word replacement. If you take a closer look, you will also likely question whether the media release has anything to do with growth. It is rather about regulation, and increased regulation at that. The list offers nothing new, unless you are prone to regular bouts of amnesia.

The aim of the ‘intervention’, it is said, is to “support both business and consumer confidence, thereby laying the foundation for an economic recovery . . . [and] these interventions are the beginning of a response programme that will be unpacked in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) and the 2018 Budget”.

If you are bored enough, and have the time to invest . . . I interrupt the sentence to remind you that ‘boredom’ is defined as a lack of enthusiasm, lack of interest, and lack of concern. Assuming you did invest the time, you would conclude that there are 14 interventions, and 46 subinterventions. The 14 interventions follow, but you will be well advised to also consider the subinterventions. Before we get to that, the document contains a number of acronyms, which, frustratingly, tend not to be defined. This distracted me when I was reading the document.

The interventions are fiscal policy; financial-sector and tax policy; leveraging public procurement; recapitalisation of State-owned entities (SOEs) and government guarantees; broader SOE reforms; the private-sector participation framework; costing developmental mandates; energy; South African Airways; telecommunications; Postbank licensing; the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act Amendment Bill; the Broad-Based Socioeconomic Empowerment Charter for the South African Mining and Minerals Industry; and the Regulation of the Land Holdings Bill, as well as the tabling of the Bill in Parliament (after processing by a multidisciplinary Ministerial think-tank, the NJSC and the National Economic Development and Labour Council).

How many of these ‘interventions’ do you believe will have the effect of improving economic growth from its present low and declining trajectory? Then the ‘timelines’ range from July 2017 to December 2019, which seems to indicate that these ‘interventions’ cannot realistically be expected to result in any economic growth improvement for the current calendar year. It is 2019, just in case you thought it was a typographical error.

All this is reminiscent of legendary Springbok Boy Louw playing against England and the English players sharing with anyone on the field, within hearing distance, just how well they were playing and were expecting to continue to play. Unperturbed, Louw responds: “Just look at the scoreboard.” The Springboks were leading, of course.

Indeed, with all these ‘economic’ plans, is there someone – anyone – casting an eye on the scoreboard? If not, then you are not attuned to the scoreboard, but rather to the commentary. Fake news?

“It is not about improving; it is about the points.”