SA Politics

[IanF]

I generally try to steer of politics.
But with the latest news of Vytie Mentor
I feel this is a game changer and the president could be hung out to dry.

Mentor had dropped a bombshell earlier when‚ in a conversation with Democratic Alliance member Johann Abrie on Facebook‚ she asserted that she was offered a job as minister of public enterprises by the Gupta family on the condition that she dropped the South African Airways flight route to India to give it to them. “I refused and so was never made a minister‚” she said. “The president was in another room when they offered this to me (at the Gupta home) in Saxonwold (Johannesburg)‚” she said.

She is not backing down.
So our soap opera of SA politics is going through major changes, or is it?

Next few weeks will be interesting here.

[IanF]

I picked the wrong game changer. It looks like the deputy minister really tipped the scales. Biznews editorial sums up the game so far

Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas accused the Guptas of personally offering him the job of taking over the finance ministry.

“The political game has entered a deep and dangerous phase,” Ben Turok, a veteran ANC member and former lawmaker, said by phone. “ANC veterans, members of its integrity committee and MPs must stand up and say that Jacob Zuma must resign, because there is no way the Guptas could have done this without Zuma’s approval.”

Jonas’s statement Wednesday was the latest in a series of embarrassing revelations linked to Zuma that have led opponents and allies alike to question his judgment. Jonas said he rejected the offer “out of hand” and that the proposal “makes a mockery of our hard-earned democracy.”
The rest is at the link above

Far out thought now will Shabir Shaik turns state witness against Zuma on the corruption charges?
We are in for a wild ride now.

[sakkie]

Julius also jumped on the bandwagon and said he was offered a post.

Zupta should resign now if he is clever........

[cyppokagain]

I'm looking at this from a forex financial economic perspective. My sense there is a very hard wrangling over economic policy that people do not see. If you noticed the amount of companies that are re-aligning their holdings in such a way so that any foreign holding flows become independent of SA jurisdiction and tax flows will likely come down significantly. My speculation is that there were hints of this occurring but nothing done to cure it. So to a degree I think the rand has to implode until there is a severe shift to salvage fund flows to have an economy left.

Food costs because SA is now importing staple grains will go up exponentially with a devaluation so rates and other means like tax reduction and deficits have to be cut quiet a lot to have some measure of stability long term. I am not talking about investment attractiveness but balance of trade operations so that there is no constant pressure to lower the rand in order to be able to fund imports. Marginal effectiveness of devaluing rand to do this declines with time anyways.

I am guessing rates won't be raised and rand implodes should find out later today.

I am very optimistic about the rand though mid term and so on. The political tumult seems to have hit some undercurrent and there is realization of the above. In a sense there is some movement to clear house and revamp financial matters. My guess it was blocked up top. If you consider corruption and the budget 'division' to the same people involved in the scandal it may allow drastic changes if things change.

Will get worse before it gets better but probably will be better longer term.

[vieome]

Nothing will change, the reality is that it is hearsay. If they had concrete evidence then that would be another thing. Also as a party they do not want a case where a second pres is removed before his term ends as that is how it will always be going forward. So while this is interesting in terms of the soap opera of politics, in a court of law these people don't have a case. I think behind the scenes people are sitting with some hard offshore funds and the real aim is to devalue the currency further. If we take December period, with the hard rand drop, retailers, property owners never had time to put a price adjustment in place so they lost a lot of money. This is something that is common with all liberation governments, get the green dollars devalue your currency. In SA we are currently valued at 16 rand to the dollar, across the road in Zim the rate for dollar is 20 rand. So it is really the game of money that matters in my mind, get the green backs, devalue your currency. Upset the economically endowed who will sell houses etc off cheap as they leave for greener pastures. Just my humble opinion, I could be wrong, am wrong about alot of things.

[Electrode]

If there is no proof or evidence that helps to establish facts there will be no action from anyone.

[IanF]

I see the ALSI is up 1.3% so far today, is the market reading this as good news?

This afternoons President's question session in parliament should be interesting unless he pulls a sickie.

This is now my daily soap as our counter is quiet because of the rain.

[Dave A]

There's just no telling who to believe at the moment.

Frankly Jacob Zuma's credibility has been shot to hell for quite a while already - so there's no taking his word for it.
The top rank has been pulling in solidum with the President for so long now that there's no taking their word for anything.
Both Vakie's and Mcebisi's alleged incidents occurred some time ago, so why are they coming out of the closet now?

Something's afoot. But watch your step, because it's near certain there's a lot of dung being thrown around.