POINT OF ORDER
TIM COHEN: Sitting ministers we should not stand for
Tim Cohen examines the pattern of ministerial incompetence that forms a big part of President Jacob Zuma’s problem
One of the most noteworthy asides at this year’s budget speech was the photographs on Twitter showing the ANC MPs who didn’t give Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan a standing ovation. They showed a handful of MPs deliberately not standing, and that group contained at least four Cabinet ministers: Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini‚ State Security Minister David Mahlobo‚ Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen and Lindiwe Zulu‚ the Minister of Small Business Development. The fact that they didn’t stand doesn’t say much in itself; we all know the ANC is at war with itself, and we all broadly know the outlines of that battle and that they differ ideologically from Gordhan. But something struck me about this particular group — how, generally speaking, utterly incompetent they are. It’s one thing, after all, to have a different ideology but ask any business advisory group, having the right ideas is only part of the solution. Execution is its own a...
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