Thomas Johnson - The Blog

"Just as the purpose of a pilot is to ensure the smooth passage of his ship, and of a doctor to make his patient healthy, so a statesman's objective must be the happiness of his country." Cicero, On the Republic (De re publica), 54 BC (as quoted by Robert Harris, Dictator, 2015) By his own words and actions, President Jacob Zuma placed himself, his family, friends and party before the country, and acted, as Cicero might have said, for "personal glory". The events of the past week - three finance ministers in four days - and the agendas and unknown advice from unknown quarters (not cabinet) that propelled him to make the dreadful decision to fire former minister Nhanhla Nene, which saw the rand dive and markets lose R171 billion, once again prove he and the ANC are unable to rule. Even after Sunday night's appointment of Pravin Gordhan to the post to mitigate the damage, replacing David van Rooyen (the "weekend finance minister"), on Monday ANC s...

Jacob Zuma's firing of Nhlanhla Nene is more than him exercising presidential prerogative, but upholding his oath to place the country first and govern to the standard the constitution and public demands. If he and the government he leads cannot do that, what does this mean for the institutions and society? A few years ago I was fired as accountant for a small organisation allegedly due to restructuring but I was the only one affected. After I was gone, my reportedly incompetent and unqualified "replacement" (and others) were implicated in embezzling - management was derelict too for not adhering to policies.   The real reason for my firing, though, was I had continually spoken out about their failure to adhere to policies and financial waste, theft and, in the end, permitting these failures. I have been unable to find work since partly because my professional integrity, and career, was ruined because of my dismissal (and I'm too old and the wrong colour). Knowi...

It was reported the ANC welcomed, by omission or commission, the appointment of inexperienced and unknown David van Rooyen as finance minister, and by extension, the dismissal of experienced and respected former minister Nhlanhla Nene. This is like saying one welcomes the appointment of a newly graduated doctor to head of surgery or a newly qualified pilot as captain of the latest Airbus. Only in the ANC’s through-the-looking-glass universe does this make sense. It’s as irrational as their other acts: “welcoming”, that is, approving the appointment of a teacher to the highly complex and technical post of SAA chairperson; an engineering degree faker to the head of a multi-billion rand railways procurement programme and a matric certificate faker as chief operating officer of the SABC. The ANC has taken leave of its senses and it and President Jacob Zuma have put the country firmly on a perilous route, that recent investment downgrades and a persistently poor economy, due mainly to o...

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 ...

Analysts say protests being experienced at South Africa's universities are not only about the unaffordable cost of higher education. The underlying catalyst is that a university education will secure benefits – skills, a guaranteed chance of a well-paying job and mobility to the middle-class and prosperity out of poverty. Experts say the dysfunctional education system – 80% of schools – mean only about 14% of school leavers qualify to go to university, and half of those who enrol dropout with nothing, except accumulated fee debt. Almost everything the ANC has done regarding education has been disastrous: Implementing outcomes based education against expert advice and the world’s experience and persisting with it despite the evidence. Closing teacher (and nursing) training colleges – some of them very good – and retrenching teachers despite the knowledge an excellent education can only be achieved through excellent educators. And now we face a shortage of teachers and a medioc...

City of Cape Town and mayoral member for transport Brett Herron received another bloody nose in the Western Cape High Court yesterday. It lost its application, with costs, for leave to appeal the Court's ruling last month halting the eviction of 26 Wynberg families to make way for the MyCiTi bus route and Acting Judge Leslie Weinkove's order for the city to conduct "meaningful" public participation. In papers filed with the application, Herron, who all along dismissed residents' appeals for a fair hearing, stated the constitution "imposed" public participation on the city. Tough Brett, if you don't like what the constitution says, get out of council and suck lemons! Neither the Constitution Act s152.1 and Municipal Systems Act chapter 4 s16 refers to "meaningful" in the context of public participation that's required of municipalities. The constitution s152.1.a says, "To provide democratic and accountable government for local ...

The following letter by an anonymous writer is trending: "For my South African friends: This is the letter I sent to You magazine. Perhaps they will publish it so it can reach more people: I've lived in Zimbabwe my entire life (27 years), I went through it's total collapse in 2008. But it wasn't an overnight crash - it took +/-10 years to hit absolute rock bottom. Reading the news, President Jacob Zuma says that the ANC comes first, not South Africa! It's not his statement that bothers me so much as the fact that the South African government is now reaching a point where they can (almost) say or do anything they want, and no one opposes them. South Africans are becoming complacent, the same way Zimbabweans did. (President Robert) Mugabe pushed the boundaries a little further each time to test us, and made seemingly insignificant changes to the law every now and then. In the beginning the change was so gradual, and when we didn't fight back, the changes became ...