Gigaba must go after all he is the genesis of all our troubles
THAT national disgrace, Jacob Zuma, will soon, we hope, finally be out of the way, so the nation can get on with the business of creating a better life for all. But before we can take tangible steps towards the future, the new leadership, whoever they may be, need to sweep out everything Zuma represents.
The first who should be shown the door are the undeserving lieutenants he put in key positions at executive level. As long as they remain in place, we cannot make any progress.
Malusi Gigaba is foremost among those who should never have been entrusted with a position of responsibility in the first place. We have the finance minister to thank for the miserable state of our public affairs. Which is quite a tragedy, for the man is young, at 46, and he would have had a bright future.
Had Gigaba employed whatever talents he has for the public good, his oratory skills would have made him a great asset in the service of the people. Instead, he allowed himself to be a useful, blunt instrument in the grand project of state capture.
It was he who opened the gates for Zuma and his armies of looters to ransack the state for private benefit. Gigaba’s tenure as minister of public enterprises was characterised by irregular and destabilising interference in the operations of companies such as Eskom, Transnet and SAA, where he saw himself as a better engineer than the people who actually knew what they were talking about.
All of a sudden, Gigaba and the nonentities he appointed to the boards knew best what deals the managers should enter into, reducing highly trained executives to mere rubber stamps.
The results have been staring us all in the face for at least eight years. Under Gigaba’s leadership, Eskom, SAA and arms manufacturer Denel needed billions of rand to be rescued. Without exception, these entities have been looted to the point of bankruptcy. The cash generated by their operations has simply vanished into thin air.
Gigaba has had equally incompetent assistants like Brian Molefe, Anoj Singh, Ben Ngubane, Zola Tsotsi and Zethembe Khoza. However, for none of this sorry state of affairs will the esteemed finance minister accept any responsibility whatsoever.
With Gigaba now as political head of national treasury, SA’s descent into junk status and permanent economic misery can only be hastened. Trustworthiness is a prerequisite when dealing with anyone; it is of even greater importance when dealing with investors. Absolute credibility is of paramount importance in any business interaction.
But to get an idea of what Gigaba’s notion of credibility and trustworthiness is, just look at the latest R5-billion bailout of Eskom by the Government Employees Pension Fund. This is the sort of man that SA is dealing with who has the keys to the national purse.
On September 27 last year Gigaba swore by the stars that not a cent from that fund would be used to clean up the mess he created at Eskom. Sadly, this R5-billion, which belongs to hardworking public servants, is only the first instalment of the hardearned cash that will now be thrown into the dark pit.
Gigaba has mastered the art of indicating left and then promptly turning right. To really know what is going on where he is concerned, one needs to ignore what he says and instead carefully watch what he does.
Along with what could soon be his former boss Zuma, Gigaba belongs in the dustbin of political history with people like Lynne Brown and David Mahlobo, to mention just two.