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Tomorrow marks 100 days of President Zuma’s second term.

These have been 100 days of pain for South Africans.

The President has achieved nothing. He has spent the majority of these 100 days protecting himself against the controversies that have come to define his presidency.

Just like during his first term in office, President Jacob Zuma has gone from crisis to crisis, whilst the real issues - Unemployment, slow economic growth, sliding investor confidence, the crisis of corruption and the collapse of basic service delivery in some areas – continues to go unaddressed. 

During these first 100 days, the nation has been rocked by a growing number of controversies and failures of President Zuma’s administration:

Under the expanded definition, which includes discouraged job seekers, unemployment hit its highest point since 2009, with 35.6% of South Africans unable to find a job. That means that 7.5 million South Africans can’t find jobs;

 
In the first six months of this year, absolutely no economic growth was registered, as the economy contracted by 0.6% in the first quarter, and showed anaemic growth of 0.6% in the second quarter;
 
The manufacturing sector is in freefall. The sector lost 59 000 jobs in the second quarter of the year alone;
 
South Africa’s credit rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor’s in June, while Fitch changed its outlook for South Africa to negative;
 
One of South Africa’s largest banks, African Bank, had to be placed under curatorship as the National Credit Regulator failed to foresee the looming crisis at that bank;
 
South Africa’s banking sector is coming under increasing strain as the credit ratings of South Africa’s 4 largest banks have been downgraded in the wake of the African Bank crisis;
 
The non-stop wave of government scandals continues. It was perhaps personified by the appointment of President Zuma’s daughter to a high-level position in government;
 
The President failed to adequately respond to the Public Protector’s findings, essentially ignoring her recommendation that he repay the money he owes by delegating decision-making responsibility to the Police Minister;
 
The President went on a 6 day working visit to Russia for no particular reason. The DA will do a further investigation to determine how much the trip cost and what the real reasons were for President Zuma’s trip to Russia;
 
The President has allowed his Communications Minister, Faith Muthambi, to ignore the recommendations of the Public Protector on SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng. The Communications Department now seems for all intents and purposes as a propaganda ministry aimed at defending President Zuma’s reputation through the deployment of friendly cadres at the SABC;
 
No further clarity has been provided at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Indeed, the chaos at this organisation continues as South Africans increasingly start to question the integrity of this institution that is so crucial to maintaining the rule of law. There are serious warning signs that the President is using political influence to control the functioning of the NPA in order to protect himself;
 
The Supreme Court of Appeals court finding against the President on the Spy Tapes judgment was a crucial victory to get to the bottom of the dropping of more than 700 charges of corruption against President Zuma. The judgment furthermore admonishes the Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Nomcobo Jiba, raising further questions about the President’s decision to appoint her;
 
The consistent attacks by the ANC, in an attempt to protect President Zuma from further scrutiny on Nkandla, has bordered on unconstitutional behaviour by the ANC and represents rock bottom in the ANC’s desperation to protect President Zuma at all costs;
 
The President has failed to, and continues to refuse to table the full Special Investigations Unit (SIU) report on Nkandla before Parliament, yet again showing that the President is not acting in good faith on Nkandla. Every action the President has taken in this regard has been to avoid accountability and transparency and to hide the truth;
 
The Labour Relations Amendment Bill has now been signed into law by the President - instead of heeding our calls to include the right of workers to vote on whether to strike or not, President Zuma signed it into law without that critical provision;
 
During the President’s first appearance before Parliament to answer questions since November 2013, President Zuma was utterly evasive and gave no clear answers to any of the questions put to him; and
 
The first 100 days has been littered with broken promises, like the promise that all school children in the Eastern Cape will have desks by August this year. That has failed to materialise, as reports suggest that 200 000 children are still without desks in the Eastern Cape.
   
There is no doubt that President Zuma’s first 100 days has been a disaster without end.

His cronies in the ANC will continue to defend him at all costs and in the process our democratic institutions, our Chapter 9 institutions, our Constitution, our economy and our people’s livelihoods will be compromised.

This will be all be done in the name of defending President Jacob Zuma.

The only question is how much longer can President Jacob Zuma and South Africa take the pain?

Issued by the DA