Zuma shouldn’t be president, that’s obvious. But that he is the problem and that to replace him with Gordhan or Rhamaposa is the answer, is totally misguided. The problem reaches back to Zuma’s predecessors and to economic policy as a whole. Zuma is a symptom, not the cause. 

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.