The ANC vs Treasury
Pravin Gordhan's axing was inevitable, as the legacy of Jacob Zuma's tenure is that he will have purged government and the ruling party not just of his enemies but of its independence entirely
For some time now, the fraught relationship between President Jacob Zuma and former finance minister Pravin Gordhan has been depicted in binary terms. The divide is ideological and the picture painted is this: On the one hand, there is Zuma, beholden to a nefarious third party, morally compromised and vested in nothing more than promoting his own agenda. On the other hand, there is Gordhan, the last bulwark against economic populism and a servant of the public’s best interests. The former is the villain; the latter the reluctant hero or victim — whichever circumstances dictate a more appropriate description.There is evidence to support these two descriptions. However, you could certainly argue that Gordhan has, for decades, been entirely complicit in the damage the ANC has wrought. As with many in the ANC, it is only recently that he has stumbled across his moral conscience or, at least, chosen to make an issue of it. Nevertheless, so powerful is this paradigm, it is hard to imagine...
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