South Africa: Truth (Lies) and Long-Term Consequences of the Probe Into Gordhan

opinion

It is becoming more and more clear that the decision, ostensibly by the National Prosecuting Authority, to issue a summons for Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is going to have a whole host of consequences. It is useful to divide those consequences into short-term and long-term. Some have already been felt - the rand has lost significant value, civil society is rising up against the Zuma administration, almost all South Africans are poorer than they were on Monday. But some of the longer-term consequences are still harder to fathom. Even if they are likely to be more important, because they relate to the integrity or lack thereof of our institutions, and to the future of the ANC. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

The situation around Pravin Gordhan, President Jacob Zuma, the NPA and the Hawks has never been simple. As a result, the fog of the war that is under way has managed, in the minds of some, to obscure what is really happening. There is a tendency among people to try to let this help them off the hook of having to actually make a decision about who they believe. They say it may be true that Zuma is trying to capture...

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