South Africa's Problems Run Deeper Than President Zuma

South Africa was taken by a storm when President Jacob Zuma recently fired his Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, seen by Western observers as a guarantee of stability and fiscal rectitude. Since then, two rating agencies downgraded the country's credit rating to junk status. On Friday 7 April, tens of thousands of people joined marches in major South African cities, calling for Zuma to resign.

In a Guardian piece, Benjamin Fogel and Sean Jacobs explain what is at stake for the country's future. They paint a grim picture of the inequalities that afflict South Africa more than two decades after the end of apartheid:

South Africa’s black majority remains mostly poor and pushed to the margins of society, facing bleak economic prospects, high crime rates, a failing education system and a lack of basic services, while the majority of South African white people have prospered since 1994.

They provide a negative outlook on the unfolding political struggles. The anti-Zuma movement is a loose alliance of business interests, civil society organisations, NGOs, unions, left- and right-wing opposition parties, and a section of the ruling party, the ANC. They lack a clear vision for a post-Zuma era. 

The pro-Zuma camp idolises the President as an opposer of Western imperialism and advocate of redistribution in favour of the black majority, but Zuma's corrupt dealings with the powerful Gupta business family indicate otherwise.

The authors warn that the opposition will need more than a narrow focus on demonising the President. Zuma's resilience and his strong grip on the ruling party should not be underestimated.

The piece sheds light on the turbulent politics of a country that performs a strategic role in Africa as a vehicle of Western capital. There are growing popular calls for radical redistribution measures such as land reform and nationalisation of the mining sector. This push from below will influence the ongoing fight for the levers of political power.