Given the corruption and exploitation by the top dogs within the factions of the ruling ANC, it is clear that none of the factions has anything to offer the working people of South Africa. Instead of backing one faction over the other, the working class (and the black section in particular) rather needs to fight against class rule, capitalism and the state. That is the system that is rotten to the core.

Monopoly capitalists and their allies in the ANC have corrupted something very precious in South Africa’s history – the proud and militant tradition of struggle for social justice. They have corrupted the dream of a free and egalitarian nation. For over two decades, the ANC has presided over entrenched corruption, which must now be resisted. But that struggle will constitute a whole new historical epoch.

Supporters of austerity are happy because South Africa’s junk rating is a good stick with which to whip President Zuma. But his immediate concern is survival, not the economy. Could the current crisis generate a long-overdue era of redistribution, racial justice and radical economic transformation? This was the promise of new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba last Saturday, April Fool’s Day.