I think South Africans have a responsibility. I keep making this point — connect the dots and ask: ‘what is the political moment in the country?’ If we are not doing that, I can tell you now by the time disaster hits the country, we will be accused of having lived with our eyes wide shut while political decay is deepening
Jonas’s refusal to march to Gupta’s beat ultimately led to his dismissal from Cabinet in March 2017, together with his friend and Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan, by President Jacob Zuma. Zuma was the Gupta’s political cut-out. Their dismissal immediately wiped nearly R1-trillion rand off the markets and the images of that day – of National Treasury staff crying and singing Senzani Ne? (what have we done).
Members of the public standing horror-struck in Church Square – will forever bear testament to the place in history that Jonas and Gordhan had achieved – not necessarily by their own choosing – as two of the leaders of the resistance to the devastatingly corrupt Zuma years. In their final press conference on the day they compelled South Africans to ‘join the dots’: “I think South Africans have a responsibility. I keep making this point –
connect the dots and ask ‘what is the political moment in the country?’ If we are not doing that I can tell you now by the time disaster hits the country, we will be accused of having lived with our eyes wide shut while political decay is deepening,” Jonas warned.
