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Who’s really in control here??

The resignation by cabinet ministers speaks directly to two issues:

1) These ministers, while hiding behind the statement that “we served at the pleasure of the president and therefore the correct thing to do is to step down and allow the new administration to elect new ministers” have shown their true loyalty.  They are saying we do not like the way things have gone down and at least half of them have said that they will not serve in the new administration. This is equally significant, and speaks volumes about the contention by the ANC that the move was to heal the party. The rift in my opinion has widened!

2) The ANC’s NEC has not worked this thing through correctly, they in fact need certain of these ministers to be on board.  They said that they had asked them all to remain in their posts and all had agreed, they clearly did not know that some of them intended to resign else they would have said so in the beginning.

I said in one of my previous posts that this country was bigger than the ANC and from the commentary led by various networks as to the feelings on the ground, people are panicked, they are unsure about the future. The NEC is faced with some really tough issues – if they, once Kgalema is sworn in, halt the NPA investigation into Zuma, then the world will say, they are covering something up.

If the world even begins to think this, then Zuma as president will be tainted, we simply cannot afford for the world and particularly the investor community to think this. We are still on the back of the most successful financial period in South Africa’s history and we need to maintain this momentum.

Telling people not to panic is not the correct message, what you need to tell the people is what you are doing to sort the situation out.

I did want to comment about Trevor Manuel so have done so below: 

Trevor Manuel saying that he is not sure why the news of his resignation was met with shock as this was the “obvious thing that needed to happen” is a joke. His actions were reckless in the extreme and have caused extreme jitters on the markets.

He would have known this and this entire annoucement could have been handled with care. Pleading ignorance is crazy, the news of his decision to serve on Saturday, enjoyed as much air time on Bloomberg as Thabo’s resignation.

Clearly he would have known this. I am convinced that he made this move to send a message to the NEC. I am afraid that while I still think that Trevor Manuel is awesome financier and networker, the respect stakes for me have fallen.

So in closing who is really in control here?