EDITORIAL: The lessons of 9/12
Nenegate sent shock waves through the market a year ago. Has SA changed since then, and if so, for better or worse?
A year ago on Friday, President Jacob Zuma fired then finance minister Nhlanhla Nene and replaced him with the unknown Des van Rooyen, causing markets to plummet and the rand to lose more than 10% of its value in just a few hours. The market mayhem of a year ago now seems like a distant memory after a rather tumultuous year globally and locally. But one year on, the question to ask is whether SA has changed since then, and if so, has it been for the better or the worse? In a way, nothing has changed. Zuma came under immense pressure from some of his ANC and Cabinet colleagues and was forced to replace Van Rooyen with Pravin Gordhan just four days later. Arguably, it was just a case of subtracting the negative rather than adding any positive. It was the disclosures from Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas that he had been offered R600m by the Guptas to take the finance minister position and do their bidding that emboldened others to come forward and opened up the whole can of worms...
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