The article in the New York Times paints a very dark picture of the current government, which was supposed to boost business confidence after the removal of former president Jacob Zuma.

No matter how many speeches David Mabuza may give about radical economic transformation, his past will always cloud President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promised new dawn of Thuma Mina (Send Me).

The article sheds lights on the realities of Mabuza’s history and no matter how hard the ANC government may try to share a narrative of a prosperous, corruption-free South Africa, the outside world will always see corruption embedded in the second most powerful person in the country.

The question that remains is how will we rebuild business confidence in the country with a leader like David Mabuza who is alleged to have redirected money set for government programmes and used it to buy power? Receiving contractors on his farm and taking his cuts before projects were awarded?

President Ramaphosa has pledged to revive economic growth and fight corruption in the country but how do we have the confidence when his second-in-charge is regarded as one of the most corrupt politicians in the country?

South Africa has a huge task to restore the economy and regain business confidence, which was destroyed in the past few years by the same ANC government.

The ANC needs to first sort out the issues of governance within the party or face the economic concerns that threaten the country’s sustainable economic recovery. DM