HARARE - Reports of a rift between business people and South African President Jacob Zuma after his dismissal of finance minister Nhlanhla ...
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HARARE - Reports of a rift between business people and South African President Jacob Zuma after his dismissal of finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, momentarily replacing him with unknown David van Royeen have revealed the thin line and minute confidence the rich have in the incumbent president.
Bloomberg assessment of the president reveals the drift."Zuma, a former intelligence operative with no formal education who took power in May 2009, draws his power from his dominance of the ANC and his appointment of allies to key party and government."
Since the surprise move, the rand tumbled by 2%. Nhlanhla Nene served a relatively short term as finance minister.
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His dismisall was recieved with mixed reactions of frown as hashtags #NhlanhlaNene and #NeneFired popped up on social media prompting a backlash from the populace.
One post was blant.
@Lisa_Sol: "Dear #jacobzuma. I know the rand dollar rate doesn’t affect you because you have #nkandla and you are getting a jet. But it affects all of us."
Opposition formations have peddled possible reasons for Nene's dismissal.
The EFF said it was due to his objection to the trillion-rand nuclear build and his turning down of SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni’s proposal to introduce a middleman to the fraught negotiations with Airbus over new planes.
But why the opposition and investors are crying foul when Zuma exercised his powers of trying to halt a nosediving economy. If he had not acted, the same formations would have crucified him.
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The reshuffling of the cabinet is not exclusively based on whether a minister is performing or not, but how the President wants to restructure his government. The final accountability lies with the President, which is why he exercises the powers to change his cabinet.
The day Nene took over office on May 25, nearly 19 months ago, the South Africa rand was trading at 10,5 against the US dollar. By the time he left office on December 9, the rand had fallen by 50% to 15 against the US dollar.
“The African National Congress notes and respects the decision of President Jacob Zuma to appoint a new Minister of Finance. The president has exercised his Constitutional prerogative.”
With the currency tumbling, ratings agencies have lined up to relook at their rating of South Africa. This is just one move away from effective junk status – where the country would be unable to afford the rate of taking on debt.
Last week Fitch Ratings cut the country’s debt to BBB-, the lowest level where a country can still expect investment.
On May 25 2014, Nene was appointed Finance minister before he was removed on December 9 by the President, purportedly ahead of his deployment to “another strategic position”.
It is this decision that has riled many and threatened to rip ANC membership apart.
“I would like to believe that I’ve got a clean record. I look back with no regrets, if I were to say that, in my short stint at the Treasury. I did what was supposed to be in the best interests of the country,” Nene told the Sunday Times.
Nelson Mandela words were quoted extensively by the media.
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“If the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, then you must do to the ANC what you did to the apartheid government.”
And a wave of various anti-Zuma movements have erupted.
In Port Elizabeth, local resident Alter James is organising a march scheduled to start at Holland Street and Govan Mbeki Avenue. Others are planned for Cape Town and Johannesburg.
However, the ANC remains adamant.
“The president’s willingness to change deployment… demonstrated bold leadership bringing certainty and [assurance] to the finance portfolio,” said and ANC to reporters.
Zuma's lust for women is untamed.
His office offred a statement denying any romantic involvement with Dudu Myeni, Chairwoman of the South African Airways, also linked to Nene's dismissal.
"Romours about a romance and a child are baseless and are designed to cast aspersions on the president." - The Aloe News/Online Sources
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