We cannot afford to wreck South Africa
01 March 2016
Release: immediate
Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, during the DA’s Motion of No Confidence in President Jacob Zuma in Parliament today.
1. Introduction
Let me cut to the chase:
President Jacob Zuma is wrecking the economy and he is wrecking South Africa.
And if President Jacob Zuma is not stopped, he will wreck the economy and he will wreck South Africa.
So we are faced with a choice: to save President Jacob Zuma or to save South Africa.
Because, we cannot do both.
We have the courage to do what is right and to save South Africa.
But, do you have the courage to do what is right and to save South
Africa?
Because make no mistake: if your courage fails you today, President Jacob Zuma will wreck the economy and he will wreck South Africa.
That is the truth.
And that is the choice you have to make – right here, right now – in this Parliament.
2. Internal Civil War
We all remember President Jacob Zuma calling for unity during his State of the National Address on 11 February 2016, and calling for us to work together to avoid a ratings downgrade in South Africa.
Well, that did not last long.
Because, the fact is that President Jacob Zuma is now in full damage-control mode, desperately trying to keep the political lid on an all-out internal civil war which has broken out over SARS.
The fact is that:
- President Jacob Zuma is at war with the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan; and
- the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, is at war with President Jacob Zuma.
The fact is that:
- the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, is at war with the Commissioner of SARS, Tom Moyane; and
- the Commissioner of SARS, Tom Moyane, is at war with the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan.
The fact is that:
- the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, is being probed by the Hawks who are investigating allegations of corruption, fraud and the contravention of the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act (No. 70 of 2002) at the so-called SARS “rogue unit”; and
- the investigation is reportedly at an advanced stage and the Minister is now required to respond to 27 questions relating to the case by Wednesday 02 March 2016.
The fact is that:
- the Minister has launched an all-out attack on the Hawks, suggesting that the investigation is politically motivated and aimed at trying to intimidate and distract him as well as destabilize the economic stability of South Africa.
The fact is that:
- lurking in the shadows is the Minister of State Security, David Mahlobo, who is mysteriously being briefed on the progress of the investigation by the Hawks.
So much for unity!
And so much for working together!
But, this is not all.
The ruling party has got stuck into the fight.
And they have got stuck into the fight against President Jacob Zuma.
The fact is that:
- ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe has chosen sides in the internal civil war and he has chosen sides against President Jacob Zuma.
And the fact is that:
- ANC Deputy Secretary General Jesse Duarte has chosen sides in the internal civil war and she has chosen sides against President Jacob Zuma.
It was, after all, ANC Deputy Secretary General Jesse Duarte who paraded her special guests – including the new exiles Ivan Pillay, Robert McBride and Anwa Dramat – right under President Jacob Zuma’s nose at the State of the Nation Address in this Parliament.
Whatever the case, President Jacob Zuma and the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, together with their proxy forces, inside the state and inside the ruling party, are engaged in an all-out internal civil war and are locked in a fight to the death, over SARS.
3. Wrecking Ball
And the internal civil war is caused by one man – President Jacob Zuma – who is wrecking the economy and wrecking South Africa.
And he is wrecking the economy, and he is wrecking South Africa, for one reason and one reason only, and that is the political survival of “Zuma Inc.”
The fact is that President Jacob Zuma has become a one man wrecking ball who will stop at nothing in order to survive, including wrecking the economy and wrecking South Africa.
Consider this:
President Jacob Zuma fired the former Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene, which wiped out billions in savings and permanently damaged investor confidence in South Africa.
The economic consequences were, to twist a phrase, a “known known” and entirely predictable and should have been anticipated.
Then the President appointed a new Minister of Finance, Des van Rooyen, an unknown backbencher serving on the Standing Committee on Finance.
The new Minister, rather like Miss Columbia, had barely got his hands on the crown, when it was snatched from him, in order to prevent an economic meltdown.
President Jacob Zuma then appointed a new Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, to save us from the economic meltdown.
But, just as the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, prepared to table a how-to-beat-a-ratings-downgrade budget in this Parliament, he was snubbed.
The President claimed that, in fact, the former Minister of Finance, Des van Rooyen, was more qualified to be Finance Minister.
This train of events was, and there is no other way to put it, a monumental self-inflicted stuff-up.
And the monumental self-inflicted stuff-up was caused by one man – President Jacob Zuma – who will evidently stop at nothing in order to survive, including wrecking the economy and wrecking South Africa.
4. Conclusion
We cannot allow this to continue. We cannot afford to wreck the economy. And we cannot afford to wreck South Africa.
And so we are faced with a choice: to save President Jacob Zuma or to save South Africa.
Because, we cannot do both.
We have the courage to do what is right and to save South Africa.
But, do you have the courage to do what is right and to save South Africa?
Because, as I have said, make no mistake: if your courage fails you today, President Jacob Zuma will wreck the economy and he will wreck South Africa.
Issued by the DA, 1 March 2016
