A good week for Cyril Ramaphosa and a bad week for Chris Malikane
Cyril Ramaphosa’s star is on the rise. While President Jacob Zuma was booed, humiliated and forced to cancel his speech at a Cosatu May Day rally in Bloemfontein, there were cheers — as if for a saviour — when the ultra-cautious deputy president rose to address workers at Hectorspruit in Mpumalanga. At rallies elsewhere in the country, notably Johannesburg, billionaire Ramaphosa was embraced as the working class’s choice to become SA’s next president, while pro-Zuma speakers were shouted down. Finance minister Malusi Gigaba’s adviser, Chris Malikane, sounds more like Hlaudi Motsoeneng every time he opens his mouth. Far from having been "reined in" over his views on nationalisation and land seizures, he seems determined to frighten investors away. He suggested at a meeting on Saturday that SA needs to follow the Zimbabwe and Venezuelan routes if it wants to radically transform the economy, and if this can’t be done constitutionally, which he’d prefer, it would have to be through more...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.