Business finds voice, but holds back from calling for Zuma’s head

2nd November 2016

By: Terence Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

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In an action that is unprecedented since the advent of democracy in South Africa, organised business has united with religious and civil society groups behind a campaign, known as Save South Africa, which is deeply critical of the current state of government.

Business, nevertheless, refrained from joining the demand of a number of its fellow campaigners for the resignation of President Jacob Zuma. Instead, it aligned itself with the call for a halt to so-called ‘State capture’, as well as the use of institutions to mount politically motivated legal actions against those opposing corruption, including Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

Significantly, the Public Protector’s much-anticipated report, entitled ‘State of Capture’, was released following Zuma’s decision, while the Save South Africa gathering was under way, to withdraw a court application to have the report interdicted.

Business Unity South Africa president Jabu Mabuza, who was recently also appointed Business Leadership South Africa chairperson, insisted, however, that business would no longer be silent. He noted that, to date, nearly 130 companies has signed the CEO Initiative Pledge, which affirmed businesses support for the Constitution, as well as for Gordhan.

Speaking at Save South Africa’s Peoples’ Assembly Against State Capture, which took place at St Alban’s Anglican Cathedral, in Pretoria, Mabuza acknowledged that business had been “missing in action” for the past 20-plus years in the belief that, under democracy,  “the will of the people will prevail and business should stick to our knitting”.

“[But] we are here today and we have stood up,” Mabuza said, arguing that it will not confine itself to business issues when the Constitution and the rule of law were at risk.

“We are not going to call for the resignation of the President – it is not our place. In our country, we don’t believe [business] elects Presidents. In our country we believe that there are sufficient processes in the political space to deal with that. We deal with the President who is in office; we deal with the government of the day.”

However, AngloGold Ashanti chairperson Sipho Pityana, who is the convener of Save South Africa and the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, was more forthright. He said the deterioration in governance has continued “notwithstanding the fact that [President Zuma] has been exposed to better counsel of citizens of this country” through a range of actions taken by civil society since 2010.

“His mishandling of the economy today is notwithstanding engagements and good counsel, not only from business but also from labour and other stakeholders. So what should South Africans do? As Save South Africa we believe that we are at a point where we have to come to terms with the fact that, for as long as you have President Zuma as the President of the country, it is not possible to turn the situation around.”

He added that it had written to Zuma to seek a meeting and to express the view that he is “no longer deserving to lead this country”, following the damning ruling of the Constitutional Court on the Nkandla matter.

Pityana said the State capture claims, along with long-standing corruption allegations and the use of public institutions to settle party-political scores should not be surprising when the country is led by an individual “who is without integrity, who is without honour, who is not committed to serving the interests of the country”.

“We have asked the President that we should have that discussion . . . and he should explain to us why he shouldn’t resign. Notwithstanding his statement that he prefers to be in meetings and his door is always open, it’s a month since we have written to him, and his door is firmly shut.”

GOOD MEN & WOMEN
Similarly African National Congress (ANC) stalwart Cheryl Carolus, who is also active in business, argued that Zuma had consistently been mired “not only in controversies, but some of the most spectacular violations of the highest laws of our land, which is just not right”.

She indicated that the stalwarts had made it clear to Zuma that he was “not capable of leading either the ANC or our country”.

“So we strongly believe that President Zuma must step aside,” Carolus asserted, stressing that there were still “good men and women” in the ANC, who needed to ensure that a handful of individuals not be allowed to “capture the State, its institutions and its resources for their own benefit”.

Gauteng ANC chairperson Paul Mashatile – who spoke to rapturous applause at the Save South Africa event, following addresses by leaders from various opposition parties, including the leader of the official opposition, Mmusi Maimane – gave the assurance that there were still “good men and women in the leadership of the ANC”.

Mashatile thanked civil society for its support of Gordhan, but said that the withdrawal of fraud charges against the Finance Minister meant that “we have won the first battle, but we have not won the war”.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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