Gordhan calls on Zuma to go
JOINS KHOZA IN ANC NAUGHTY CORNER Consider devastation your actions will have, former minister tells ruling party.
Pravin Gordhan believes President Jacob Zuma’s continued reign as head of state will further soil the country’s credibility and has called on his former boss to step down.
Gordhan broke his silence for the first time since he was fired as finance minister three months ago, rebuking Zuma and calling on him to hand over power to what he believes would be a more competent leader to turn the country around.
“I think the president should move aside and let somebody take over this country and reset the course‚ so that we can fulfil the kind of aspirations that Mandela and his generation had for South Africa,” Gordhan said during a Talk Radio 702 panel discussion yesterday.
The former finance minister is likely to join outspoken ANC MP Makhosi Khoza in the “ill-disciplined” corner of the governing party.
Khoza was given a dressing down by ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu for her public outrage at the direction the ANC was taking and also supporting the call for a secret ballot when the time comes for a no-confidence vote called by the opposition against Zuma.
Gordhan urged ANC leaders to cast their eye into the future and consider the devastation that their current actions would have for generations to come.
“A key choice that leaders made at that time was not to opt for squashed policy, in other words, destroy as much as you can, which is pretty much what we’re trying to do now as it applies to some people.
“Destroy as much as you can now, the future doesn’t really matter,” said Gordhan.
He also blasted the country’s law enforcement agencies for sitting on their hands while glaring evidence of state capture and alleged criminality by certain ministers and the heads of stateowned enterprises – as revealed in leaked e-mails – stared them in the face.
“State capture is telling us, or the notion of state capture is telling us, those who are responsible for bringing people [to book] are the very ones who are refusing to do it.” –