It is 2007, Mbeki is in charge and Zuma is SA’s new saviour

It is August 2007, four months before the winds of change will sweep through the tripartite alliance in Polokwane, where the ANC is preparing to usher in a “glorious” new, pro-poor era and to dump the neoliberal agenda for good.

A man of the people, a son of the soil and the antithesis of Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, is leading the charge from the ground up.

Zuma is affable, approachable and accessible, but he has been the victim of a political conspiracy concocted in the highest office in the land that is being effected through the country’s security apparatus and courts.

Despite facing these seemingly insurmountable odds, Zuma fights on from the outside for his political survival — with great force, like an unstoppable tsunami.

Alliance partners Cosatu and the South African Communist Party (SACP) have long dismissed Mbeki as “aloof”, accusing him of being antipoor and of pushing a neoliberal policy stance, to the detriment of the millions of citizens who are scraping the bottom of the economic barrel.

Legend has it that Mbeki is Machiavellian — he embodies both the fox and lion characteristics in his political leadership that Niccolò Machiavelli described in The Prince, or at least that is how he is described in almost every political piece written about him. But it is lonely at the top and Mbeki is looking increasingly weak and isolated, whereas Zuma is going from strength to strength. A major coup for Zuma is that Cosatu and the SACP have announced he is their preferred candidate to lead the ANC into a prosperous post-Mbeki epoch.

Mbeki has fallen out with several key allies in addition to Cosatu and the SACP and there are growing grumbles about his leadership.

The mood in the country is that of excitement and nervous tension: so much hinges on the outcome of Polokwane. For the good of SA, the dominant narrative states, Mbeki has to go as a matter of urgency. His presidency is just too damaging for this country.

That August, Mbeki fires his deputy health minister, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, ostensibly for going on an unauthorised trip to a conference in Spain. In a statement released in the dead of night in which he justifies dismissing her, he accuses Madlala-Routledge of being unable to work within a team.

There is the usual uproar: many ask how he could have done this when she seemed more attuned to the health crises facing the country than her principal, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

The following month, September 2007, Mbeki suspends national director of public prosecutions Vusi Pikoli because of an “irretrievable breakdown” in their working relationship.

THIS IS VINTAGE MBEKI — REWARDING LOYALISTS WHILE DEALING SWIFTLY AND RUTHLESSLY WITH OPPONENTS

Again, the nation is left stunned, giving impetus to the growing calls that the man is no good for the country: only Zuma can save SA from Mbeki’s tyranny.

The president’s critics believe Pikoli’s suspension is nothing more than a political ploy to shield top cop Jackie Selebi from prosecution.

This is vintage Mbeki — rewarding loyalists while dealing swiftly and ruthlessly with opponents.

In March the previous year, he got rid of top spy Billy Masetlha — because there were too many inconvenient (read, fabricated) “intelligence” reports floating about.

This will most certainly not happen with Zuma: unlike Mbeki, he smiles, he sings, he dances and engages with the people.

But reality bites and now the boot that chafes is on Zuma’s foot. He, too, has had major fallouts with one-time allies and is now the subject of loud calls that he vacate the hot seat at the Union Buildings. The one big difference between the two situations is the state of SA.