It’s a moment for Gigaba to seize

Finance minister can show he’s no Zuma puppet

IN the spring of 1972, there was a break-in at the Watergate office complex in Washington. In executing their task, the burglars aimed to leave bugging devices in the Democratic Party’s national office.

Later that year, the Democrats lost the elections to the Republicans. In just two years, the story moved from one minor burglary to the impeachment of a sitting president, Richard Nixon.

Watergate became synonymous with political scandals across the world.

In December 2015, President Jacob Zuma dismissed Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister on the grounds that he would be offered a post at the Brics bank. That turned out to be a false statement.

On Monday soon-to-be former finance minister Pravin Gordhan was on a road show in London, meeting investors ahead of another visit by ratings agencies to South Africa.

As we all know, interaction with international investors is critical in maintaining the status of the country as a credible investment destination. Given the fluid nature of capital markets, it is important for countries to provide policy certainty and stability to attract investment.

Some time between the minister leaving South Africa and landing in London, the president reportedly received an intelligence report that indicated that the real reason for the minister’s trip was to meet foreign agents and plot a coup against the government.

On Thursday Gordhan was replaced by Malusi Gigaba, former home affairs minister. The finance ministry will require some fast learning on his side, though he is no novice to the economic cluster, as former public enterprises minister for five years.

What is going to be key for him is to continue to drive governance by following the Treasury’s robust processes, and managing the exogenous factors and perceptions of his ministry, which may be more difficult to do.

The reality is that South Africa needs stability. That Gigaba is the fourth finance minister since December 2015 can serve only to leave investors uneasy.

I was appointed to the board of South African Airways by the same Gigaba back in September 2012. That gave me an opportunity to see him lead, and I truly believe he has a golden opportunity to help take us out of the despondent and hopeless feeling we find ourselves in — but he will need to be comfortable with the frequent use of the word “no”.

Serving on the board of SAA was hard and fun. Our chairwoman was Dudu Myeni, flanked by Yakhe Kwinana, chairwoman of the audit committee — the only two members who had survived when the previous board resigned en masse after falling out with Gigaba.

It didn’t take too long for me to see that although Gigaba had deep respect for Myeni he never hesitated to call her to account. Though I do not know the real reason why he was eventually redeployed from public enterprises to home affairs, it is interesting to note that all the “new” board members were shown the door soon after he left, and the only people who remained were — yes, you guessed it — Myeni and Kwinana. But that’s a story for another day.

In my time on the national carrier’s board, I saw Gigaba lead his team at public enterprises with great aplomb. His team was young, professional, intelligent and diligent in their work. You could see the respect they had for their leader. He appointed and supported an SAA board made up mainly of skilled black professionals from various disciplines. We were all focused on the job, and it helped that you worked for a minister who wanted you to succeed and was all too happy to take the heat for you if someone else didn’t like the good work you were doing.

Sadly, it seems the politics of the day limited our ability to make a real difference to the fortunes of our airline.

In my few years on the board, I saw a side of Gigaba that was brave enough to differ with anyone, and be led by conviction, not convenience. I sense a rare opportunity here for the former ANC Youth League president.

He could be an important agent in putting to bed once and for all the rumours that Zuma sought a puppet minister at the helm of the nation’s economy, to rubber-stamp his corrupt activities.

After Richard Nixon found himself exposed in the Watergate scandal, he resigned to escape almost certain impeachment. His downfall ushered in a new understanding of executive accountability.

This is the opportunity that beckons. Fate has put Gigaba in this position. In his hands could lie the future of the ANC and, by inference, South Africa. The rest is up to him. Khumalo is chief investment officer of MSG Afrika and presents “Power Business” on Power 98.7 at 5pm, Monday to Thursday

I saw a side of Gigaba brave enough to differ with anyone, be led by conviction