Gordhan seems to have a special political suit of armour

If the “Midas touch” turns everything into gold, could South Africans be forgiven for wondering whether we shouldn’t have the “Pravin touch”, which turns everything into manure?

Our minister of public enterprises has so many parastatal bucks stopping at his desk he could start his own game reserve… He is the one who is ultimately responsible for the performance (or nonperformance) of our state-owned enterprises (SOEs) – and most of them are in a financial nosedive.

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From Eskom to South African Airways and its low cost subsidiary Mango; and now to Transnet, the country’s freight giant, it is just one unending tale of woe.

Two of Gordhan’s Transnet appointments – CEO Portia Derby and chief financial officer Nonkululeko Dlamini – have quit the organisation and speculation is that the head of Transnet’s freight rail division, Siza Memela, might be next.

This follows a rail freight implosion, as volumes of goods transported drop so drastically that mines are unable to export and now may have to lay off workers.

Other exporters are using Mozambican harbours because our ports – also part of Transnet – are so inefficient.

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That’s an Eskom-scale disaster – yet the one resignation which won’t be forthcoming will be Gordhan’s. That is because, say political experts, he is part of Cyril Ramaphosa’s inner circle (which includes Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and Derek Hanekom) and the president owes them a huge debt of gratitude for engineering his ascension to the ANC throne at Nasrec in 2017 and a second triumph there at the end of last year.

Hanekom denies the suggestions of special treatment by Ramaphosa for his allies, pointing that he himself was let go from the Cabinet by the president.

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However, the fact that Gordhan has been so bad for so long at his job seems to indicate he has a special political suit of armour.