In October Diane Kohler Barnard was suspended from the DA and as MP for sharing a Facebook post that education etc was better under apartheid and the then president PW Botha.
Put the question another way: is Jacob Zuma the worst president since Botha, or ever? The answer must be yes.
Last night he fired finance minister Nhlanhla Nene for unspecified reasons, except Nene will purportedly take up a “strategic post”, and replaced him with unknown MP David van Rooyen who has no treasury or policy experience. The move has shocked South Africa, economists, investment analysts and the rand, which tumbled below R15/$ after the announcement.
The probable reason is Nene stood firm on Zuma's friend Dudu Myeni and SAA and affordability of the R1 trillion nuclear deal, over which he has taken a personal interest.
Zuma's action has confirmed South Africa is facing perilous times – if we weren’t already in serious trouble with last weeks double investment downgrade by S&P and Fitch and persistently poor economic indicators – with junk investment rating and rapidly increasing investment exodus now certain.
Botha pushed the country over the edge with his Rubicon Speech, which hastened the end of apartheid. So too has Zuma pushed the country to a tipping point with his firing of Nene for ostensibly political reasons, namely, trying to maintain financial sanity and rein in profligacy, incompetence and greed.
Zuma’s administration has been characterised by corruption, incompetence, undermining the constitution and institutions, blatant abuse of state resources by him and his inner circle and consolidation of power with no apparent strategic plan for the country. As Judith February writes, a "president who will do whatever it takes to protect his own interests and those of his cronies and friends (and ANC), no matter what the resulting fall-out means for the country".
There are similarities to the final days of Botha.
Put the question another way: is Jacob Zuma the worst president since Botha, or ever? The answer must be yes.
Last night he fired finance minister Nhlanhla Nene for unspecified reasons, except Nene will purportedly take up a “strategic post”, and replaced him with unknown MP David van Rooyen who has no treasury or policy experience. The move has shocked South Africa, economists, investment analysts and the rand, which tumbled below R15/$ after the announcement.
The probable reason is Nene stood firm on Zuma's friend Dudu Myeni and SAA and affordability of the R1 trillion nuclear deal, over which he has taken a personal interest.
Zuma's action has confirmed South Africa is facing perilous times – if we weren’t already in serious trouble with last weeks double investment downgrade by S&P and Fitch and persistently poor economic indicators – with junk investment rating and rapidly increasing investment exodus now certain.
Botha pushed the country over the edge with his Rubicon Speech, which hastened the end of apartheid. So too has Zuma pushed the country to a tipping point with his firing of Nene for ostensibly political reasons, namely, trying to maintain financial sanity and rein in profligacy, incompetence and greed.
Zuma’s administration has been characterised by corruption, incompetence, undermining the constitution and institutions, blatant abuse of state resources by him and his inner circle and consolidation of power with no apparent strategic plan for the country. As Judith February writes, a "president who will do whatever it takes to protect his own interests and those of his cronies and friends (and ANC), no matter what the resulting fall-out means for the country".
There are similarities to the final days of Botha.
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