The Zuma era where craziness is now normal

AT THE end of March, President Jacob Zuma showed the top ANC NEC officials a dodgy intelligence report that alleged that former Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan and his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas, were conspiring with international financiers to undermine the South African state.

This, apparently, was part of his rationale for firing the two men in his shock midnight cabinet reshuffle.

It is strongly suspected that Zuma used the “intelligence report” as an excuse to get rid of Gordhan and Jonas, who were blocking attempts by his allies, such as the Gupta brothers, to loot the state through dodgy contracts.

Last week, in response to the DA’s bid to get him to produce the intelligence report, Zuma asked the DA to first provide him with the same report that he himself showed his top party officials.

And then we had the ANC Youth League lecturing Gauteng High Court Judge Bashir Vally, after he ruled that Zuma must present the reshuffle records.

The youth league said that the courts had become collaborators with the opposition parties.

In November, Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe resigned following the public protector’s report that linked him to state capture.

Molefe stated that his resignation was not an admission of any wrongdoing on his part, but the correct thing to do in the interests of good corporate governance.

He was then parachuted into Parliament. Three months later, he resigned from Parliament and is back at Eskom.

Also last week, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal strongly reprimanded Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa for daring to enter the province without the provincial leadership’s permission.

Here is a situation where the deputy president of the country has to ask some lowly party members’ permission to visit the province. It is simply bizarre.

We are now in that Zuma era where the abnormal is accepted as normal and the crazy makes sense. ALICE CHITWAYO

Reservoir Hills