Gigaba walks, talks and swims like the lame duck he is

New Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba is on a mission impossible to try and "save" South Africa on an international road show this week.

He will find that the investors he is due to meet in Boston and New York City will want more than the platitudes he has uttered since stepping into Pravin Gordhan's boots. They will look for clear evidence that South Africa's macroeconomic policies will not imperil continued investment here as Moody's holds its finger on the downgrade trigger - with the other two major ratings agencies having already consigned us to junk.

Among Gigaba's greatest impediments will be the absence of any South African business leaders on the trip, a resounding vote of no-confidence in President Jacob Zuma's new cabinet and his choice to lead Treasury if ever there was one.

Business in South Africa is quite simply gatvol. Business Leadership South Africa, an organisation representing most listed companies on the JSE, has spoken publicly of an utter breakdown in trust between business and Zuma's government.

A stinging advertisement placed in weekend newspapers assailed state capture and what it called Zuma's "irrational and inexplicable" cabinet changes.

The business community has clearly had enough of being made the scapegoat for the warped ideology being used to justify Zuma's purge of political opponents and to dilute the political impact of our junk status.

A further drag on Gigaba's mission will be weekend revelations that his new economic adviser, Wits professor Chris Malikane, has published a paper advocating the nationalisation of banks, insurance companies and mines, and firmly defended that position when asked about it.

All of this will not be lost on investors whose doors Gigaba will be knocking on in the days to come.

They will know what they are looking at if it walks, swims and talks like a duck - or, in Gigaba's case, a lame duck.