Time for lies and bravado is over, truth must speak
MARCH 31 will go down in South African history as “banana republic” day. This is the day a teacher was handed the finance portfolio. Downgrades will follow the turbulence. The rand already lost 5% overnight.
This is equivalent to Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon with the intention of knocking out democracy and replacing it with autocracy.
Zuma is trying to go for control. The question is whether his gamble will succeed?
The DA has already filed for a no-confidence motion in parliament, but former President Thabo Mbeki was recalled by his party not ousted by parliament.
Whether the centre of power has shifted from Luthuli House to the National Assembly remains to be seen.
Your first clue will be whether or not they will allow a secret ballot on the no-confidence voting. This could allow the discontent within the ANC to translate into a vote for recall, as parliament does have those powers.
Will the SACP have the guts to stand on its principles?
Its seven ministers in the Cabinet should resign to lead the revolt against this attack on the Treasury.
Or have they been numbed by capitalism like the pigs in Animal Farm?
They say they will contest the 2019 election in their own right, so why not throw down the gauntlet today and spend the next two years campaigning against a weakened ANC?
The failure of the proportional representation system lies behind this debacle. Luthuli House “deploys” members of parliament, but in this case President Zuma merely informed the ruling party of his decisions.
He is now a dictator in all but name only. Only parliament can stop him now, but MPs are not elected by their ridings. Their futures don’t depend on what PEOPLE think. This is not “people-power” – democracy – this is vanguard-power.
God help Jackson Mthembu to do the right thing. Let ruling party MPs vote by their conscience. — C Stephens, via e-mail PRESIDENT JG Zuma does it once more by sacking ministers and deputy ministers in his Cabinet. He should have sacked more. What about Nathi Nhleko, Bathabile Dhlamini and Thulas Ngxesi? The “trio” were instead moved to other portfolios.
The reshuffle was done not taking the interest of the citizens into consideration but that of the Guptas.
JZ is living for the Guptas, that’s not in doubt. For sure even the dumbest can see that. South Africa’s economic growth is already severely hampered and will decline further. The consequences of this action will definitely be felt by the poor and the unemployed.
Msholozi and the Guptas are continuing to drag South Africa to the ground, but for how long remains a big question?
Come 2019 we can’t wait to see the disastrous consequences and casualties of one specific individual. His name is Jacob G Zuma. — Name supplied, via e-mail
THE events of the past few days are cause for concern. A Minister of Finance is recalled from a trip abroad which the president ought to have praised. It later transpires that the latter had “intelligence” that there was a plot to say bad things about him overseas.
Consequently the president wanted to declare them surplus to his requirements save for the intervention of the SACP and three of the ANC’s top three.
The same president in 2015 used a flimsy excuse to get rid of the then Minister of Finance Nhlanhla Nene and we all remember what happened to the rand.
One accepts that all the ministers serve at the pleasure of the president who has the constitutional right to hire and dismiss them as the situation so demands. However, South Africa is anything but an island and what we do here has repercussions not only in the continent but globally too.
By deciding to recall and then fire a minister and his deputy President Zuma is precipitating instability in the financial markets.
He should in the same vein acknowledge that investors have every right to take their money and invest it elsewhere. Fair, right?
Just across the border President Robert Mugabe took land from white farmers and engendered a crisis in the country. Some farmers left and sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe which crippled their economy and reduced the country to what it is now.
The moral of that episode is that for every action there is a reaction. How I wish the president and those who back him would realise that. Failure to do so will lead us to a Zimbabwe situation. — Lolonga Tali, King William’s Town
PRESENTATIONS by the same people who elected or chose Jacob Zuma over Thabo Mbeki are increasingly wayward for it is them who created this fracas in the first place and when many times a motion for impeachment was tabled they never supported it.
Now at the funeral of the most honourable Ahmed Kathrada they clap when it said phantsi (down) Zuma phantsi.
Not surprisingly the unrelated conversation that is carried on between these two extremities (of lies and boisterous bravado) encompass ethical and quantifiable pressures in the politics of our country.
But I pride myself with those who stand for the truth. People must stop with the lies and concentrate on the real facts because our country is damaged and engulfed by a wide and wild smoke of crime and corruption.
Whilst we have good leaders we chose and accept the likes Jacob Zuma and Bathabile Dlamini to manage our serious affairs.
Uhmm! Those who still clap for Zuma must know that they are doing it at our expense and the deterioration of our lives. — Fezile Potwana, Mthatha