ANC must act now against Mining Minister and fire his ass – like Van Rooyen
When visiting London last month, some heavy hitters asked whether it was true the Guptas had taken SA's new mining minister Mosebenzi Zwane along to Switzerland to negotiate the purchase of Glencore's Optimum coal mine. It's not the kind of thing Glencore would ever comment on publicly, so we couldn't confirm. But with the many South Africans employed at Glencore doubtless horrified at the way the company was railroaded, they were obviously indiscreet in private. Over the weekend, the Sunday Times confirmed these rumours had substance by publishing details of aircraft flight plans and naming the venue for the meetings (The Dolder Grand outside Zurich). At the time the sale of the Optimum mine became public many were outraged at the way the Guptas used their influence in Government and Eskom to railroad Glencore. At Biznews, we also expressed concern at the reasons why former mining minister Ramathlodi was replaced by junior member in the party whose greatest asset was being a Gupta acolyte. Now comes the newspaper's confirmation of our worst fears. With blatant cronyism rife, how can any of us be surprised that South African businesses are following foreigners in shipping their capital out the country? On the strength of this damning evidence, the ANC's top team needs to act rapidly to send Zwane the same way as Zuma's other cabinet blunder, Weekend Special Finance Minister David van Rooyen. – Alec Hogg
By Jeanette Chabalala of News24
