Is she just another Zuma puppet?
IT’S winter and the country is in recession, brought about, not by economic factors beyond our control, but a corrupt, kleptomaniac government with a bloated bureaucracy devouring the country’s wealth.
They are everywhere, fattening themselves while the poor shiver in their shacks.
There are more informal settlements now than ever, giving the lie to the government’s housing claims.
And what is the president doing? He’s playing chess, making strategic moves, placing his loyal men and women in key positions to ward off attacks from his enemies and consolidate his power.
There’s Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and his deputy, Sfiso Buthelezi, both known Zuma men who have been amply rewarded for their loyalty.
But they are already under a cloud of suspicion, Gigaba for his alleged role in the Gupta citizenship scandal while he was Home Affairs minister and Buthelezi for failing to stop chief executive Lucky Montanana in his tracks at Prasa while he was its chairman. Sounds much like Eskom’s former chairmen, Ben Ngubane and Brian Molefe.
At the head of the National Prosecuting Authority is another Zuma lapdog, Shaun Abrahams, who has yet to reinstate the corruption charges against his master.
The country is teeming with corrupt government officials. He doesn’t go after them but goes after former finance minister Pravin Gordhan.
But it’s Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane who has dropped a bombshell, attacking the SA Reserve Bank’s independence when the country is already in a deep financial mess. She wants Absa to repay the R1.125billion apartheid-era bailout for its Bankorp purchase.
She also wants Parliament to amend the constitution to make drastic changes to the Reserve Bank’s mandate.
Absa is prepared to challenge the public protector in court, citing numerous misrepresentations and inaccuracies in her report.
Why doesn’t she investigate corruption in the public service instead of targeting Absa?
It’s naive of the softly spoken woman to act in such an irrational way, outside her own mandate.
Does she have any inkling about how a country’s central bank operates? Her job is to investigate corruption in the public service, not to interfere in the affairs of another independent body.
Yet four reports on the Guptas lie on her desk, gathering dust.
Could the motive for her attack be political? Is Zuma using her to destroy the independence of the Reserve Bank?
But then she announced she would oppose Zuma’s review of the “State of Capture” report.
Am I being too harsh to judge her so early? Or is she just dancing to the tune of her puppet master? T MARKANDAN
Silverglen