It appears as if President Jacob Zuma has tried sneak out of the economy's ministerial policy problem by coming up with a political compromise, indicated chief economist from Econometrix Azar Jammine on Tuesday.

Speaking at an investment function at the War Museum in Rosebank, Jammine said that by recently reconfiguring ministerial clusters, Zuma is merely "fuzzing over" the issue of who is really in charge of economic policy.

The problems arose when Planning Minister Trevor Manuel launched a green paper a few months ago in which some of the longer-term planning powers were granted to his domain, to the chagrin of Cosatu, who want their man, Ebrahim Patel (Economic Development) to have more power. There is also the issue of where Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan fits in to the picture.

But Zuma has instead reportedly made the Transport Minister chair of the infrastructure development cluster, with Manuel and Patel both under him.

Then, more bizarrely, the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform heads up the economic sectors and employment cluster, with trade and industry falling here and not under infrastructure. It appears that economic planning doesn't sit here, but economic development and finance do.

"So we still don't know who is in charge," said Jammine.

"What is concerning is that no decisions are being taken and they are playing around with processes," he said.

Jammine said that this all comes as "they are going to have to take some hard decisions on the energy side".

The economist also raised the concern that South Africa's economy is now not only lagging other emerging markets, but also all countries in Africa, with Zimbabwe seen growing 3.5 percent in 2009 off a low base and Malawi, for example, returning 5-6 percent from close to 10 percent before.

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