TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Floods blamed as gov’t falls behind in set-top box roll-out

      24 June 2022

      Vumacam announces big Jo’burg expansion drive

      24 June 2022

      Eskom crisis spirals: stage-4 power cuts this weekend

      24 June 2022

      Illegal strike at Eskom could make load shedding worse

      24 June 2022

      State capture probe ends but South Africa remains ‘broken’ by corruption

      23 June 2022
    • World

      Amazon has a plan to make Alexa mimic anyone’s voice

      24 June 2022

      Apple, Android phones hacked by Italian spyware

      24 June 2022

      Zendesk nears buyout deal with private equity firms

      24 June 2022

      Crypto crash survivors could become ‘tomorrow’s Amazons’

      23 June 2022

      Tether to launch a stablecoin tied to the British pound

      22 June 2022
    • In-depth

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022

      Sheryl Sandberg’s ad empire leaves a complicated legacy

      2 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»Current affairs»Hawks swoop on the Gupta compound

    Hawks swoop on the Gupta compound

    Current affairs By Agency Staff14 February 2018
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    The noose tightened on South African President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday as the police went after key allies while leaders of the ANC vowed to force him from office.

    Police raided the Johannesburg home of the Gupta family, who are in business with Zuma’s son, Duduzane, as the nation awaited the president’s next move in his struggle for power with Cyril Ramaphosa.

    Time is against Zuma, South Africa’s ultimate political street fighter, as Ramaphosa has relentlessly grabbed political space since he won the presidency of the party by a razor-thin majority in December. The ANC expects Zuma to respond to its decision to replace him on Wednesday, its spokesman Pule Mabe told Johannesburg-based radio station SAfm. The presidency said no media event was scheduled.

    They gave him the option to take control of his own resignation, and when that didn’t work the party took control

    Zuma succeeded in delaying the inevitable last week when his apparent willingness to negotiate prompted Ramaphosa and the rest of the ANC leadership to postpone a meeting of their top body, the national executive committee, to decide his future. But as the talks dragged on, the NEC decided late on Monday that his time was up. When he countered by asking to remain in office for up to six months, the party bosses said enough is enough.

    “It’s not up to Zuma now; he no longer has any option,” said Mpumelelo Mkhabela, a political analyst at the University of Pretoria’s Centre of Governance Innovation. “They gave him the option to take control of his own resignation, and when that didn’t work the party took control. The idea of trying not to humiliate him didn’t work.”

    While ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule was at pains to show respect for the president on Tuesday, saying Zuma had done nothing, critics say his tenure will be remembered as a time when South Africa went from being known as a “rainbow nation” to one coloured by corruption.

    The ANC’s former head of intelligence, Zuma took office in May 2009, just weeks after prosecutors dropped graft charges against him. He spent years fighting a bid by opposition parties to have those charges reinstated and fending off allegations that he allowed the Guptas to influence cabinet appointments and the award of state contracts.

    Arrests

    A spokesman for the Hawks, Hangwani Mulaudzi, couldn’t confirm a report by eNCA that one of the Gupta brothers was arrested during the morning raid. The rand strengthened after the report.

    In his battle with the ANC, the principal card Zuma has left to play is the threat of disruption. Should he resist the order to resign, the party’s next option is a no-confidence motion in parliament. The problem is the third biggest opposition party, former ANC youth leader Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters, already has one on the table, set for 22 February.

    Voting for an opposition motion would put the ANC in an uncomfortable position, yet opposing it would keep Zuma in power.

    Cyril Ramaphosa (photo: GCIS)

    Even if the ANC is able to schedule its own motion before that of the opposition — which legally will be complicated — approval of the proposal will mean Zuma’s entire cabinet must also resign. While that will present Ramaphosa with a clean slate, it would complicate the 21 February annual presentation of the budget, which investors are anticipating will show the nation’s new leaders are committed to fiscal consolidation.

    Already the political impasse gripping South Africa has forced the unprecedented decision to postpone the annual state-of-the-nation speech. Another delay of a major event such as the budget would smell of a serious political vacuum.

    The drop in the party’s public support during Zuma’s rule — the ANC lost control of Johannesburg, the economic hub, and Pretoria in municipal elections in 2016 — ironically gives him leverage.

    The only thing he needs to do is step down, which is really a procedural matter. He does always like to drag things out

    The party desperately needs a smooth transition, so Ramaphosa, a 65-year-old lawyer and one of the richest black South Africans, can move quickly to fulfil pledges to revive the struggling economy, clamp down on corruption and rebuild its image ahead of elections scheduled for mid-2019. Any delays in parliament and establishing a new government will harm the party’s chances.

    “The NEC firmly believes that this situation requires us to act with urgency in order to steer our country towards greater levels of unity, renewal and hope,” Magashule said. “We are determined to restore the integrity of the public institutions, create political stability and urgent economic recovery.”

    The prospect of a Ramaphosa presidency has cheered investors, with the rand gaining the most against the dollar of all currencies tracked by Bloomberg since his 18 December election as ANC leader. It was 0.9% stronger at R11.86 at 10.45am in Johannesburg.

    “He is finished,” said Mkhabela. “The only thing he needs to do is step down, which is really a procedural matter. He does always like to drag things out and there is a little room for him to refuse to resign, but the end result will be the same.”  — Reported by Mike Cohen, with assistance from Sam Mkokeli, Amogelang Mbatha, Paul Vecchiatto, Ana Monteiro, John Viljoen and James Hertling, (c) 2018 Bloomberg LP

    Ace Magashule Cyril Ramaphosa Jacob Zuma top
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleWi-Fi provider WirelessG under new ownership
    Next Article Interview: Deloitte’s Mark Casey on the future of technology

    Related Posts

    State capture probe ends but South Africa remains ‘broken’ by corruption

    23 June 2022

    South Africa scraps public mask mandate

    23 June 2022

    What it will take to bring the Guptas to justice

    22 June 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Watch | Telviva One: adapting to the requirements of business

    24 June 2022

    Huawei P50 now available for pre-order in South Africa

    23 June 2022

    Calabrio paves way for SA’s cloud contact centre WFO journey alongside AWS

    23 June 2022
    Opinion

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

    19 May 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.