Disaster beckons
Junk president. The cost of a downgrade
SA’s toxic politics has cost the country its investment-grade credit rating with S&P. Unless Jacob Zuma is stopped, multiple downgrades are likely to follow and the economy will face years of decline — if not a full-blown economic crisis and, ultimately, a debt default. President Jacob Zuma’s craven attack on national treasury last week, by firing SA’s highly respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan, has set off a chain reaction he probably scarcely imagined possible. A week later: SA has a junk rating from Standard & Poor’s (S&P); there are ominous signs from Moody’s and Fitch; the market has tumbled; Zuma faces a backlash from civil society; and the ANC’s partners, Cosatu and the SA Communist Party (SACP), have asked him to quit. Outrage is building within the ANC too.In an unprecedented break from tradition, deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa called Gordhan’s firing "unacceptable", ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize said Zuma’s actions sidelined the ANC, and secretary-general Gwed...
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