The coming chaos: Mcebisi Jonas on growth, jobs and the lack of national obsessions

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The coming chaos: Mcebisi Jonas on growth, jobs and the lack of national obsessions | PieterDuToit

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It's becoming common cause, but South Africa cannot afford to delay making the big decisions any longer. But, Mcebisi Jonas, who was fired as deputy minister of finance by then president Jacob Zuma during the height of state capture, tellsSouth Africans and the country's politics tend to be focused on personalities and individuals, and, says Mcebisi Jonas, the former deputy minister of finance, not enough emphasis is placed on systems, structures and underlying problems.

He's a systems and process guy, and what we have now is not working – and it's constraining Ramaphosa from doing what must be done. The ANC, Jonas says, is a party suffering from an existential crisis which it is going to have to face if it's going to survive – and even if it does, Jonas is unconvinced that the governing party is salvageable. At his book launch on Tuesday evening at Hyde Park Corner in Johannesburg – Jonas said the resistance inside the ANC against state capture was more about saving the party than saving the country.

"What is needed in the party is boldness. And yes, that boldness does exist. Ramaphosa knows what must be done and he is going to have to do it, and soon. But we mustn't fall into the trap that in our desire and urgency to make big changes we don't follow the law and processes. When forcing change we must stick to the Constitution."

But Jonas would want to see the political system reformed to such a degree that whomever is president derives his or her mandate from the electorate. Does that mean a directly elected president, rather than the present party list system?"Look, we need to have a new dialogue on the matter. It cannot be that we as citizens must always be indebted to 'the liberators'," says Jonas.

He doesn't say it, but it's patently obvious from his book and in conversation that the ANC's mantra of partyis the biggest brake on Ramaphosa and government. Ramaphosa cannot do what he wants because half the reforms necessary to improve government's fiscal position and stabilise its balance sheet run contrary to party ideology and convention.

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