South Africa: There Are No Quick Fixes to SA's Current Political Crisis

opinion

There is a temptation to seek neat, clean answers to South Africa's current political crisis. The problem is that there are no simple answers to what happens next whether it relates to who walks away with the spoils at the ANC elective conference in December or whether citizen mobilisation will indeed stop the rot and help us find a way out of this rabbit-hole of corrupt leadership and a weak, compromised state.

When President Jacob Zuma axed Finance minister Pravin Gordhan in a cowardly "dead of the night" act, he gave no reasons. Neither did he provide reasons for reshuffling his cabinet for the umpteenth time. It seems the paranoid President initially used a so-called "intelligence report" which suggested that Gordhan and Jonas were plotting against him by discouraging investment. Yes it was flimsy, lacking in substance and entirely unbelievable - but any excuse would do to get rid of Gordhan and Jonas. In firing Gordhan, Zuma exercised public power in a way that was arbitrary and undermined the national interest.

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