Kathrada's death causes Zuma to hold fire

President Jacob Zuma's plans to fire Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan did not reckon with a sudden dramatic event out of his control – the passing of struggle legend Ahmed Kathrada, according to BusinessLIVE editor Ray Hartley. He suggests Zuma was unable to fire Gordhan yesterday as he probably planned to do, fearing a massive political backlash, not least by speakers at Kathrada's funeral, set for this morning. ‘Proceedings will be broadcast on national television and you can imagine speaker after speaker expressing outrage at Zuma over Gordhan's firing,’ writes Hartley. He points out Kathrada was a leading critic of Zuma and one of the few prepared to stick his neck out and demand his resignation, which he did in an open letter – not long after Zuma controversially axed Nhlanhla Nene as Minister of Finance. Zuma announced that Cyril Ramaphosa would lead government's presence at the graveside.

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