South Africans on social media have reacted strongly against media reports that have tracked the performance of the South African rand following former President Jacob Zuma’s return to the ballot as the face of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK).
On Tuesday, the Electoral Court ruled in favour of the party after it found that Zuma is now eligible to be the party’s presidential candidate in the upcoming elections.
The Electoral Court upheld Zuma’s appeal against the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) for striking him off the MK Party’s candidate list.
The latest judgement means Zuma can contest the elections on 29 May after the IEC previously upheld an objection to Zuma being included on the list because of his previous conviction and sentence for contempt of court.
According to a ‘Bloomberg’ report, a new poll has shown that there has been a sharp drop in support for the ANC and a surge in support for the MK Party, which in turn weakened the rand on Wednesday.
The publication said this underscores just how sensitive the markets and investors are about the elections – and just how ruinous Zuma is to sentiment.
However, South Africans have rejected this rand movement, saying the currency failed to react to years of mismanagement of SOEs under the current ANC-led administration including the Eskom crisis, load shedding, and high rising costs of living.
Reacting to the latest weakening of the rand is Injeje YabeNguni Council, made up of traditional leaders, which on Thursday condemned the weakening as being controlled by those who hate Zuma.
“The Executive Assembly of Injeje yabeNguni Council condemns in the strongest terms the pathetic Rand manipulation intent at portraying a negative light on the reality that President Jacob Zuma is set to return Parliament after the 29 May 2024 National General Elections.
“It is become abundantly clear to Chief Imperialist Johan Rupert and his ilk that their plan to overtake and destroy our country using the current ruling party is destined to fail and thus they have begun their manipulation of systems as they have done throughout the years of President Zuma's Administration,“ the council said.
The council said ordinary people have started realising the misinformation attempts by the mainstream media and those who own these establishments.
“The masses of our people have seen through the fallacies and misinformation hence these feeble attempts will have no bearing on how they vote. The masses of our people have never benefited from the Rand, they simply don't have it, thus it being up or down has made no material changes in their lives as they have been living below the bread line since before 1994. We shall never be held to ransom by a Rand that ascends and descends at the whim of Johan Rupert,” it said.
On social media, South Africans reacted strongly against the assertions made, with spokesperson for the National Union of Metalworkers of SA, Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, saying: “They are desperately fear mongering but unfortunately the masses don’t read News24.”
The council said the country did not need Western investors who manipulate the rand to suit their own interests at the expense of the citizens of this country and was happy that Zuma’s imminent return to power has become a real possibility.
“With South Africa being a vital member of BRICS and with President Jacob Zuma’s inevitable return to the South African Presidency, our country will by no means be short of investors. As it stands, many Russian investors seek fertile markets to invest in as sanctions continue to impede them doing business in certain markets, it makes economic logic for their investments to be made in South Africa as the Kremlin itself has been strengthening its relations with the continent.
“The days of imperialist rating agencies dictating the political trajectory of our country have long gone, we are now in a new era, an era in which the current generation of South African masses were born to reclaim their country and its wealth. We are in an era in which the the indigenous African and her Majesty shall reclaim the governance of her people in the midst of vultures that feed on the poor masses of the land,“ it said.
The Star