Ten years ago, former president Jacob Zuma fired Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister, marking the end of an era. There are many lessons to be drawn from that event. South Africa in December 2015 was much like South Africa now.
People were planning to go home or on holiday for Christmas. We were obsessed with the value of the rand and whether it would be an El Niño or a La Niña season. The temperature of our politics had been increasing steadily since Jacob Zuma won the ANC’s leadership battle at Polokwane eight years before.
But Zuma was firmly in charge. No one in the ANC would move against him. And, through the ANC, he governed the country, despite having weathered several political storms.
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He had given a semi-apology for the government money spent on his Nkandla homestead, while questions were being asked about his “friends”, theGuptas. These questions had peaked after Atul Gupta confirmed to EWN’s Barry Bateman that a planeload of his wedding guests had received permission to land at Waterkloof Air Force Base. On Wednesday, 9 December 2015, there was only one indication that everything was about to change — a report by Sam Mkokeli hinting that Zuma was preparing to move against the finance minister, Nhlanhla Nene.
Even so, while loading my children into the car after a family event that night, I was not prepared for the phone call from the then editor of Daily Maverick. Branko Brkic knew immediately how important this was. After a brief conversation, I agreed to write a piece, which was entitledThe day we realised we’re in serious trouble.
So unexpected were these events, I had to borrow my wife’s laptop to write it, having left mine in the office. While there were many different elements to consider, one simple fact stood out, both then and now. It was obvious that Zuma was moving without consulting the ANC.
For the first time, he was making important appointments while bypassing the party’s National Executive Committee and its top officials. This was clear because in the ANC’s statement on the appointment of Des van Rooyen to replace Nene, it said it “noted” the appointment. Nowhere was the word “welcomed” used.
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