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October 2016
w
ho is running the Republic? If anyone wants to
write a book about the state of South Africa at this
present moment, it will be the perfect title for that
book. It is a question that has been on the top of
everybody’s mind since early August, when results
of the local government elections best reflected
the apathy with the way the country has been run over the past
decade. These results should have served as a wake-up call for
the ruling party as they were the clearest evidence yet that the
ANC is in a serious state of decline.
Before those results were delivered, President Jacob Zuma was in
‘full campaign mode’, very bullish on his party’s prospects and once
again leading his cheerleaders in with mesmerising dance skills.
He was the absolute personification of the term ‘Asinavalo’, which
means ‘we are not scared’. Before the polls, the president seemed
at his weakest and most insecure. But even his biggest critics
would have questioned that, given the impressive shows of sup-
port for the ANC and in particular its president in the rallies just
before the August 3 polls.
It is a quite a different picture now. The figures showed that the
party was losing the urban vote to both the EFF and the DA – across
the country.
The president of the country has virtually gone into his shell,
leaving us all to wonder just what the last three years of his tenure
will look like. Will he make the end of his term, or will the party re-
place him before national polls in 2019? The last time I recall him
addressing the nation – and that was outside the halls of parlia-
ment – was upon accepting the electoral results at the IEC centre.
Results which were in truth a referendum on his near decade-long
presidency more than anything else.
Instead of a period of introspection for the ANC and for the rest of
us, a show that indeed the leadership of the country had taken to
heart the clear message from the electorate, the country has slid
even further into this state of uncertainty that has plagued us for
far too long. The slide has been damaging to the economy and
even more so the future well-being of the party.
The narrative that surrounded President Zuma’s axing of his well-
respected Finance Minister, Mr Nhlanhla Nene, was simply that of
state capture. People closest to the president, and not necessarily
inside the governing party, were trying to raid Treasury. By being
forced to re-appoint Mr Pravin Gordhan instead of his first choice,
Mr Desmond van Rooyen, it seemed a plan was foiled.
That whole debacle was perhaps one of the biggest bungles in
his presidency – results of the local government elections served
to prove that. I’d go as far as to suggest that it was even more
disastrous than the Nkandla matter, which is saying something
in itself.
After losing control of Johannesburg and Pretoria, you’d think
the ANC along with its president, would be trying to get to grips
with why they are losing the trust of their voters. But instead, the
president or rather those that remain beholden to his faction, have
acted to once again destabilise Treasury.
At a time when President Zuma should be assuring disheartened
voters that their concerns over ‘state capture’ are being heard,
the tensions have only been heightened. Instead, by the actions of
the Hawks he has only served to provide further evidence of the
decay in his office and by extension, his party.
And all the while South Africa Inc. has been left rather leaderless.
Who has taken the reigns in this most critical period, when the
country could see itself losing its investment grade, joining peers
such as Brazil and Russia in ‘junk’ status? Instead, we are witnessing
the results of behind the scenes power scuffles that poke at the
integrity of National Treasury. This isn’t about Pravin Gordhan.
The uncertainty that continues to plague the country is of no ben-
efit to the country and to the ANC as a party. It all seems to one
man’s benefit, or rather more specifically, the benefit of the factions
that have so benefited from his near decade long presidency.
The only ones smiling are those sitting in opposition, namely the
EFF and a resurgent DA.
Who is running
the Republic?
RON DERBY,
editor:
Business Times
POLITICAL
analysis
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