President Jacob Zuma: the recession President
7 June 2017
The Save South Africa campaign is concerned, but not surprised, at the figures released by StatsSA yesterday, which confirm that South Africa is officially in a recession.
After all, there is no way that Zuma’s recent actions could have stimulated economic growth in any way – whether it was his Cabinet appointments, his understanding of the economy, or the ongoing facilitation of theft from the public purse.
Ratings agencies have seen through it, local economists have warned about it, and now we have the facts: the economy is officially going downhill.
Our failed President, Jacob Zuma, can now add another word to the legacy he is leaving South Africans: “Recession”.
When his term finally ends – and we trust it is soon – “recession” will take its place alongside “Nkandla”, “state capture”, “looting”, “selling South Africa” and “junk status” when South Africans reflect on the disastrous Zuma era.
Most South Africans do not, in any event, need formal notification that we are in a recession. They are already experiencing food insecurity, hunger, poverty and social ills on a daily basis, thanks to Zuma’s misrule. They are seeing millions of rand diverted from health care, education and social grants by an ever-growing band of thieves inside and outside government.
They also do not need formal notification that unemployment is at an all-time high, or economic analysis that says a recession will lead to further job shedding. This is already the lived experience of millions of South Africans who hoped for a better life after apartheid, but are seeing it whittled away by the Zuma wrecking ball.
South Africa is being stretched to breaking point by Zuma. And the idea that he is a saviour of the poor is belied by the destruction he is leaving in his wake.
ANC Members of Parliament would do well to reflect on this when their time comes to vote in the next Motion of No Confidence in Zuma. A vote in support of Zuma is not only be a vote for continued state capture – it will also means they are happy to trap more and more South Africans in poverty.
The situation will only get worse as long as Zuma and his cronies in power. Economic uncertainty will continue, investors will remain skeptical of South Africa as an investment opportunity, and the cost of survival will continue to increase.
The longer Jacob Zuma stays in office, the deeper the recession will be. We need to act, soon, to have him removed from office. Ordinary South Africans are the only ones now who can get rid of Zuma and get South Africa back on track.
Only then will we have any hope of an economic revival, and be able to talk again of inclusive economic growth – rather than Zuma’s “radical economic transformation”, which is designed only to further enrich the crooks and thieves who – as the #GuptaEmails show on a daily basis -- are draining the public purse and keeping the economy in a downward spiral.
Issued by Save South Africa, 7 June 2017
