Zuma facing strife for firing minister
SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa’s president replaced his embattled finance minister yesterday in an expected move that spooked investors this week and sent the currency tumbling.
President Jacob Zuma’s replacement of Pravin Gordhan comes as part of a Cabinet shuffle that changes 10 of the country’s 35 ministers.
``Holy wow. Midnight ministerial massacre in South Africa,’' former United States ambassador Patrick Gaspard tweeted.
Pressure has been growing on Zuma to step down after he recalled Gordhan, who has a strong reputation as a bulwark against corruption, from a trade trip in London earlier this week. The recall caused South Africa’s rand to lose nearly 5 per cent, another blow to Africa’s most industrialised economy that has stalled amid high unemployment.
Many South Africans had viewed Gordhan as a responsible steward of an economy facing credit rating downgrades. He has been replaced by Malusi Gigaba, a former home affairs minister.
Frustration has been growing with Zuma after numerous allegations of corruption. South Africa’s two main opposition parties took aim at the president on Thursday, with one appealing to the highest court to order impeachment proceedings and the other announcing it will launch a vote of no confidence.
On Thursday, Gordhan inspired a standing ovation at the funeral of one of South Africa’s leading anti-apartheid activists as longtime leaders of the ruling African National Congress, the country’s former liberation movement, called for Zuma to step down.
The outcry by funeralgoers including the ex-wife of Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela Mandela, further exposed the ruling party’s divide.
The Cabinet changes are ``to improve efficiency and effectiveness,’' a statement from Zuma’s office said.
But even allies of the ruling party had warned against replacing Gordhan. Deputy generalsecretary Solly Mapaila of the South African Communist Party, which is in an alliance with the ANC, warned that the party’s seven Cabinet members would resign if Zuma fired the finance minister. The Cabinet reshuffle comes as the calls for Zuma to step down grow.
``Zuma has bowed to the whims of those who determined to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor & jobless,’' the country’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, tweeted after the announcement. The party yesterday said it would launch a vote of no confidence in Zuma in parliament.
Also yesterday, the Economic Freedom Fighters opposition party applied to the country’s highest court to order parliament to begin impeachment proceedings against the president for lying to the legislative body. – AP