President Zuma and The ANC Dynamics

SOUTH AFRICA - In Brief 29 Mar 2017 by Iraj Abedian
SA is gripped by rumours and speculations about President Zuma's imminent cabinet reshuffle. The focus centers on whether or not he will axe Pravin Gordhan as the Minister of Finance. The reshuffle is about much more than Minister of Finance, yet this is the critical pivot- certainly for the financial markets. Zuma has put his foot down to axe the Minister and Deputy Minister, and he is facing serious pushback within his ANC structures. All said and done, it comes down to two competing moralities with serious trade-offs: Zuma has the constitutional rights to reshuffle as he pleases, but the ANC has to worry about the effects on the 2019 National Elections and the nation's reaction to the axing of one of the most respected ministers of finance since 1994- a man of principles and a champion of clean governance. Axing him now will give the opposition parties a massive gift for electioneering against the ANC. Of course the other serious possibility is the financial markets reaction, leading to macroeconomic instability that would make it hard to recover from by the 2019 elections. In the midst of all these, yesterday SA lost an iconic political figure of Mr Ahmed Kathrada- a close friend and fellow prisoner of President Mandela. Today is a national day of mourning for Mr Kathrada who had challenged President Zuma to step down due to ethical misconduct and for bringing the ANC into disrepute. Mr Kathrada together with other ANC stalwarts had been veciferous in their criticism of Zuma for his unethical leadership. This came to a blistering climax when the family of Kathrada asked President Zuma not to attend the burial ceremony in Johannesburg. Instead, Deputy President Rama...

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