There is currently a lot of violence and tension in Kenya after the presidential elections and the current situation in the East African country is not looking great at all. The loosing presidential candidate is not accepting the poll results and thus violence has broken out in the country with many deaths everyday. Kenya has been the ‘darling’ of East Africa on the economic front. It has been the country investors have been keen to invest in and now with all that is happening there, one wonders how the investors are going to feel about their investments in Kenya or any other future investments they would want to put into the country.

Politics plays such a critical part in any countries economy. A perfect example would be the current situation being experienced in Zimbabwe. Due to the politics of the country, the economy has literally crippled. If the situation in Kenya is not resolved soon and amicably then Kenya’s economy could take a knock.

The reason I mention the Kenya situation today is because I am looking at a potential scenario in 2009 where South Africa will be having its own presidential elections. If for some reason those elections do not go well and a ‘Kenya situation’ arises, what would happen to the South Africa economy? And least we not forget that the Soccer World Cup the whole country has been waiting for will be taking place the following year.

I personally do not think there would be many problems in the 2009 elections but one can never be too sure when it comes to politics. What I see as being a potential problem is the pending charges being put on the new ANC president, Jacob Zuma. A report on Fin24 yesterday, headlined: Cosatu up in arms over Zuma states that Cosatu, which is the leading trade union in South Africa and which is firmly behind Jacob Zuma, would not be happy at all if charges are put on Zuma and if charges are put they would ‘cause chaos’ in the country. What kind of chaos they mean, one can only imagine. Hopefully not the kind of chaos currently being experienced in Kenya.

Let us hope that the South African economy remains strong and continues to grow no matter what the politics of the country bring up. As hard as it is for politics not to affect the country, let us just hope for the best.

Subscribe

Sign-up to receive the latest updates from TheRandToday.com direct to your mailbox

Loading ...