Dlamini-Zuma gets into position
The president is said to have told ANC leaders she will take over the finance ministry
President Jacob Zuma’s supporters are lobbying for former African Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana DlaminiZuma to replace Pravin Gordhan as finance minister.
ANC insiders this week told the Mail & Guardian Zuma has already briefed some senior ANC leaders about his intention to replace Gordhan with her.
“I know senior leaders were summoned [by Zuma] to MahlambaNdlopfu to be briefed about the developments. The decision was that, after the treasury budget vote, she will take over as finance minister. She will be deputised by Sfiso Buthelezi,” said the ANC insider, who is aligned to the Zuma faction.
Buthelezi, who served as Zuma’s economic adviser when he was MEC for economic development in KwaZulu-Natal between 1994 and 1999, is a member of the finance portfolio committee in Parliament.
Dlamini-Zuma was expected to touch down in Johannesburg on Thursday from the AU summit in Addis Ababa, where her successor, Moussa Faki Mahamat, from Chad, was elected as the new chairperson.
She is expected to hit the ground running in her campaign to succeed her former husband as the next ANC leader in December and that of the country in 2019.
She is expected to attend a church service in Carletonville on Sunday and is likely to be accompanied by the women’s league’s top officials. The league was the first ANC structure to endorse Dlamini-Zuma publicly as the next ANC president. She also enjoys widespread support in the Free State, North West, Mpumalanga and her home province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Zuma’s supporters believe her appointment as finance minister would be a necessary step for her in preparation to take over as the country’s number one.
“The best position for her before she becomes president would be the one of finance to alleviate the fears of an investor,” said one of DlaminiZuma’s lobbyists.
He dismissed concerns about her lack of financial experience.
“If Pravin is a pharmacist, what will stop her [Dlamini-Zuma] as doctor to take the position [of finance minister]? Why would people complain?” the lobbyist asked.
An ANC national executive committee member, who is in the antiZuma faction, said there was nothing stopping Dlamini-Zuma from being appointed finance minister. “What I know is that Nkosazana is on the national list [of ANC public representatives]. Because she was not around, she asked to be pushed downward [on the list].
“She has every right now to say, if there is a space, I must be first in line. I would imagine, if she wants to be president down the line, she would want to prove herself better on the finance side,” he said.
“If I were placed in that position and I have different ambitions, I would perform in such a manner that I prove myself.”
He added it was difficult to predict how the markets would react to news of Dlamini-Zuma’s appointment.
“The market[s] don’t care who the hell you put in, as long as there’s a perception that there will be sound financial management. Even if you put [in] a good person, if the perception is such that you are removing Pravin because he is fighting the Guptas, it will also taint the good candidate. It’s difficult to read,” he said.
There has been growing tension between Zuma and Gordhan in the past months. Business Day reported on Thursday that Zumahit out at the treasury during the ANC lekgotla last week for frustrating the party’s economic transformation agenda.
Gordhan has been embroiled in a court battle with Oakbay Investments, a company owned by Zuma’s family friends, the Guptas.
The presidency and the ANC did not respond to requests for comment.