If you really wanted to understand why President Jacob Zuma ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to cancel his appointments with investors and come straight home, you should have watched the Gupta channel ANN7 and followed what is commonly referred to as “Paid Twitter”, the Gupta-financed social media trolls, since last week.
The long, drawn-out battle between the national treasury under Gordhan and the Gupta/Zuma axis has now exploded into an open war.
I’m told one of the reasons that will be forwarded for the dramatic presidential order yesterday is that Gordhan, his deputy and their officials were undermining the president of South Africa in their presentations to foreign audiences.