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ANC Chief Whip Mathole Motshekga’s attack on DA Leader Helen Zille’s request for a debate with President Zuma on the state of the South African economy comes as no surprise. Instead of welcoming the opportunity to have an open and honest discussion about the current challenges facing our country, Motshekga, like the Presidency, has chosen to put the interests of the ruling party ahead of the interests of all South Africans.

The Presidency’s response that President Zuma is “meeting with stakeholders” on the state of the economy does not do much to inspire confidence. The violent strikes that have resulted in our economy losing billions of rands, a deficit in our current account, the devaluation of the Rand and thousands of job losses started nearly two months ago. Yet the President has only stepped in now to consult stakeholders in order to come up with solutions to this crisis. This move merely serves as further confirmation that President Zuma and his government have had no plan up to now. It also further reveals that the ANC Executive has chosen to ignore the National Development Plan which, like the DA Growths and Jobs Plan, proposes a number of interventions and solutions to grow our economy and create jobs.

President Zuma’s “high level dialogue on the economy” appears to be nothing more than a desperate move to detract from his failure to show leadership in these trying times and a serves as a means to avoid taking tough decisions that trade unions within the tripartite alliance would oppose during the run up to Mangaung.

The fact is that Parliament has a crucial role to play in holding the Government accountable for its actions and failures. If the ANC Chief Whip truly cared about the wellbeing of poor South Africans, he would be joining the DA in calling for a debate on the state of our economy and requesting that President Zuma participate in such a debate in the National Assembly.