Protect Pravin from thugs at all costs

South Africa is in trouble. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has made a desperate appeal "to all South Africans to protect the National Treasury staff, who have diligently, honestly and skilfully served the national interest".

Gordhan made the call following news that the Hawks are about to arrest him. If you were to ask ordinary South Africans what crime has Gordhan committed, it would be difficult to tell.

Most South Africans are in fact wondering why the Hawks are not arresting Jacob Zuma, given that the courts have found that the dropping of the 783 charges he faced before he became president was irrational.

Allegations have long been in the air that Zuma and his friends, the Guptas, want Gordhan out of Treasury so they can loot our money.

The threat to arrest Gordhan suggests that while the Guptas may have left South Africa for Dubai, they continue to use Zuma to destabilise our state.

Under ordinary circumstances, a minister under pressure from criminals would seek protection from his boss, the president.

These are extraordinary circumstances indeed. The minister is under threat from the boss himself, which is why Gordhan is appealing to us ordinary South Africans.

When a minister seeks protection from ordinary citizens, you must know that a government has collapsed, and that citizens have no protection at all.

The collapse of our state manifested itself so graphically in the recent upheavals at Vuwani. There was no government to stop the burning of 24 schools in the area.

The only government we have are the thugs who are threatening to arrest Gordhan. These thugs don't care what happens to our economy. All they want is money from Treasury.

Again, under ordinary circumstances, you would expect leadership from the ruling party, the ANC. But the ANC is part of the problem. It has been captured by a dodgy president who seems to be working with the forces of darkness. How can the ANC act?

The person who history will never forgive is Cyril Ramaphosa. Most people believed him to be a man of integrity, and that he would not keep quiet when our national interests are threatened.

It would seem that Ramaphosa sees silence as a golden road to the highest office. He will soon learn that looters don't hand over power on a plate. History will ask him: What was the point of keeping quiet?

The strategy of the looters is to put Gordhan under so much pressure that he finally resigns. Were this to happen, Zuma would quickly replace him with a Gupta-linked scoundrel who is ready to facilitate looting.

For the looters, Treasury is a potential treasure trove. They salivate when they think of the trillions of rands under the Public Investment Corporation, the billions under SAA, Transnet, Eskom, Denel, and so on.

There is also the Russian nuclear deal. Allegations are that Duduzane Zuma and the Guptas have been positioned to supply uranium to the Russians when they build nuclear power stations in SA.

If this corrupt plan were to work, Zuma's son would make billions of rands. Gordhan has been blocking this dirty deal.

Ironically, we are confronted by a question posed by a dead Russian, Lenin: What is to be done?

Gordhan has answered the question. He has told us that, now that his boss and the ANC have failed to protect him, we ordinary South Africans are the last line of defence.

If we do not protect Gordhan, the next two or three years of Zuma's presidency can collapse whatever is left of the state, and millions of South Africans will sink deeper into poverty. There would be no money left to pay social grants.

But Lenin's question poses another question: How can we ordinary people protect a minister, Gordhan? There are various things we can do. All men and women of moral standing in society must issue a public call to Zuma: "Hands-off Pravin Gordhan."

It must be made clear that the day the Hawks arrest Gordhan, that will be the last day of Zuma in office. If we were to make such a call in our numbers, Zuma would instruct his dogs to leave Gordhan alone.

The call must also be made by people of conscience in the ANC. We must not dismiss all ANC members as corrupt. But good people in the ANC must come out of their cocoon for history to count them among voices of reason.

Opposition parties also have an important role to play. They must make parliament hell for Zuma, so he does not feel in control.

It may at times feel like we are fighting a losing battle against powerful looters, but Nelson Mandela never stopped fighting because it was hard.

It is our country, let us defend it.