PERFORMANCE
ONKGOPOTSE JJ TABANE: Gigaba flies strong and straight despite Gupta albatross
'He has not reversed anything Gordhan put in place, save for cosmetic changes and rhetoric'
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba has acquitted himself very well in his first 100 days in office. Let’s not forget that many investors felt he was an inappropriate choice, especially since his appointment was born of the inexplicable firing of his predecessor based on spurious grounds and fuelled by a desire by President Jacob Zuma and his Gupta puppet masters to raid the Treasury.
That project had been stopped in its tracks when the appointment of Des van Rooyen was reversed after he arrived for his first day at work accompanied by Gupta advisers. Thanks to the Gupta e-mail leaks, we now know he had been attending inductions at Saxonwold, where a plan was hatched for how the grand theft was going to take place.
By contrast, the signals coming out of the Treasury now should silence Gigaba sceptics. The appointment of a Treasury insider as director-general would have come as a surprise to the many who would have expected the appointment of an accounting officer from outside Treasury, confirming the grand theft narrative. The markets seem to trust the new director-general and were kinder in their reaction to him than the way they responded to Gigaba’s appointment. For this sentiment to last, however, the new director-general needs to come out of the shadows and do most of the talking on how the Treasury will maintain the professionalism and fiscal firmness it has come to be known for.
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