{"id":777664,"date":"2024-06-19T10:47:46","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T08:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=777664"},"modified":"2024-06-19T10:47:51","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T08:47:51","slug":"south-africas-forgotten-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/777664\/south-africas-forgotten-president\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa&#8217;s &#8216;forgotten&#8217; president"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>South Africa is set for a Presidential inauguration on Wednesday (19 June), but many South Africans often forget about the nation&#8217;s third President in the democratic era, <strong>Kgalema Motlanthe<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Motlanthe was president of South Africa for a short eight months in 2008, and during this time he made some significant and sweeping changes that would echo through governance in the years that followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This includes: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Disbanding the scorpions ahead of what would become known as the state capture years;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reversing Thabo Mbeki&#8217;s policies on HIV\/AIDS; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Maintaining Mbeki&#8217;s stronger economic policies to weather the global economic crisis of the time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>More recently, Motlanthe served as head of the ANC\u2019s electoral committee and has been a key driver internally in cleaning up the party&#8217;s image and talks around the 2024 elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cyril Ramaphosa will be sworn in as President at his inauguration later today, 19 June. This will begin his second full term as President.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-businesstech wp-block-embed-businesstech\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"AnV49D35Ey\"><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/777596\/south-africas-presidential-inauguration-everything-you-need-to-know\/\">South Africa&#8217;s Presidential inauguration: Everything you need to know<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;South Africa&#8217;s Presidential inauguration: Everything you need to know&#8221; &#8212; BusinessTech\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/777596\/south-africas-presidential-inauguration-everything-you-need-to-know\/embed\/#?secret=66SQGYBrHD#?secret=AnV49D35Ey\" data-secret=\"AnV49D35Ey\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ramaphosa&#8217;s Presidency follows those of Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, and the oft-forgotten<strong> Motlanthe<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike the other Presidents who appeared on ballot papers at national elections, Motlanthe was somewhat of an &#8220;in-between President.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was a well-known and popular figure in the ANC, having served as the Secretary General of the party from 1997 to 2007. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Motlanthe was also elected as Deputy President of the ANC at the ANC&#8217;s 52nd national conference in 2007 and became the second Minister in the Presidency in 2008. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following in-fighting in the party between the supporters of Mbeki and Zuma, the former was asked to resign as President of the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Motlanthe was then elected President of South Africa in Parliament and sworn in on 25 September 2008. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After Zuma was elected President on 9 May 2009, Motlanthe served for only eight months before serving as Deputy President until 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the short period, Motlanthe&#8217;s Presidency brought about big changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He replaced Health Minister\u00a0Manto Tshabalala-Msimang\u00a0with\u00a0Barbara Hogan, showing a <strong>break from Mbeki&#8217;s policy on HIV\/AIDS<\/strong>, which had been characterised as denialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For context, it is estimated that over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hsph.harvard.edu\/news\/magazine\/spr09aids\/\">300,000 South Africans<\/a> died from HIV\/AIDS&nbsp;between 2000 and 2005 due to the&nbsp;Mbeki&nbsp;government&#8217;s objection to treatment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, Motlanthe <strong>signed legislation disbanding the Scorpions<\/strong>, an elite anti-corruption unit of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and replacing them with the Hawks. Zuma&#8217;s Presidency was then highly characterised by state capture.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/13715826844_33918ec6c3_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"387\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/13715826844_33918ec6c3_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-777693\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/13715826844_33918ec6c3_o.jpg 620w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/13715826844_33918ec6c3_o-300x187.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Former President Kgalema Motlanthe <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Economic performance <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although unpopular with the left-leaning pro-Zuma camp at the time, Motlanthe called for a <strong>continuation of Mbeki&#8217;s economic policies<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He reappointed popular Finance Minister Trevor Manuel to the role who had previously followed Mbeki out the door, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/888281a2-8ae9-11dd-b634-0000779fd18c\">strengthening the rand against the dollar and euro. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That said, the economy, through no real fault of Motlanthe, performed dismally following years of strong growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During his short Presidency, South Africa recorded a recession. GDP figures for Q4 2008 (-2.3%), Q1 2009 (-6.1%) and Q2 2009 (-1.4%) were all in negative territory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was the first recession in the democratic era, and was largely attributed to the Global Financial Crisis at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2008 was also one of only five years where the FTSE\/JSE All Share Index (ALSI) delivered a negative return over the last 30 years. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-128.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"657\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-128-1024x657.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-777671\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-128-1024x657.png 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-128-300x193.png 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-128-768x493.png 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-128.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: Allan Gray<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>However, this poor performance was linked to the global financial crisis, which followed the collapse in the value of US homes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the crisis, the US was in a recession from 2007 to 2009, and South Africa, whose economy is at risk of shifts in global markets, was caught in the crossfire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although South Africa&#8217;s economy recovered shortly after a drop in interest rates, the nation has yet to reexperience the high growth rate seen during the mid-2000s, when GDP growth surpassed 5% in 2005, 2006, and 2007. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wealth\/777488\/r461-million-a-day-for-south-africas-richest-people-since-january\/\">R461 million a day for South Africa\u2019s richest people since January<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cyril Ramaphosa will be sworn in as President on Wednesday &#8211; but many South Africans often forget about one of the nation&#8217;s presidents who had a significant impact during his short tenure. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":659159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-777664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777664"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777748,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777664\/revisions\/777748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}