Gigaba flies strong and straight despite Gupta albatross
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba has acquitted himself very well in his first 100 days in office. Let’s not forget that many investors felt he was an inappropriate choice, especially since his appointment was born of the inexplicable firing of his predecessor based on spurious grounds and fuelled by a desire by President Jacob Zuma and his Gupta puppet masters to raid the Treasury.
That project had been stopped in its tracks when the appointment of Des van Rooyen was reversed after he arrived for his first day at work accompanied by Gupta advisers. Thanks to the Gupta e-mail leaks, we now know he had been attending inductions at Saxonwold, where a plan was hatched for how the grand theft was going to take place.
By contrast, the signals coming out of the Treasury now should silence Gigaba sceptics. The appointment of a Treasury insider as director-general would have come as a surprise to the many who would have expected the appointment of an accounting officer from outside Treasury, confirming the grand theft narrative.
The markets seem to trust the new director-general and were kinder in their reaction to him than the way they responded to Gigaba’s appointment. For this sentiment to last, however, the new director-general needs to come out of the shadows and do most of the talking on how the Treasury will maintain the professionalism and fiscal firmness it has come to be known for.
The jury is still out on the reason he was chosen instead of a Gupta-anointed person aligned to whatever agenda the president had in mind when he fired Pravin Gordhan as finance minister.
The second positive sign is Gigaba getting his 14-point plan adopted by the ANC’s top leadership. Getting buy-in is significant, even if the content is a rehash of the so-called nine-point plan, because whatever decisions the Treasury makes will be seen as a collective decision of the ANC and not merely Treasury or Zuma machinations.
This is crucial in light of the glaring state-capture evidence that is emerging daily.
Gigaba’s tabling of this plan to the ANC leadership was truly a masterstroke that placed him head and shoulders above many ANC politicians. He has been able to reinvent himself, despite having been appointed by former president Thabo Mbeki. He is trusted by Zuma to the point where he has been entrusted with the keys to a vault coveted by those seeking state capture.
To have this hovering over you and still manage to persuade a fractured ANC to back your plans is quite a political manoeuvre. Previous Treasuries would not have bothered to get ANC buy-in.
Gigaba still has the Gupta albatross around his neck, and so far, the family can’t be too happy with him.
He has not reversed anything Gordhan put in place, save for some cosmetic changes and rhetoric about inclusive growth and radical economic transformation, which to me remain meaningless. He has not even withdrawn Gordhan’s case against the Guptas following their suspicious transactions and run-in with the banks. Gigaba got the Gupta-infested Eskom to suspend its chief financial officer and has publicly intimated that the family is an irritation in our political system.
The final highlight of Gigaba’s first 100 days was the announcement of a “90-day listening tour” to Treasury stakeholders. Politicians are not good listeners, so I am not holding my breath about what will come out of such a tour. Will the minister hear the pain that has been caused by the trust deficit with business? Or even the pain that is caused by the policy schizophrenia pursued by Gigaba’s colleagues in key industries such as mining?
Overall, the young lion has done well, especially given the odds stacked against him, but the road to implementation is going to be rough and he has limited time to make his tenure count before the next cabinet reshuffle.
HE HAS NOT REVERSED ANYTHING GORDHAN PUT IN PLACE, SAVE FOR COSMETIC CHANGES AND RHETORIC