Leader and Letters
ON TUESDAY night, it appeared that almost every possible institution, organ – indeed individual South African – was against the continued tenure of Jacob Zuma as president of this country.
Yesterday, in the full glare of the TV cameras, the ruling party’s secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, who had been one of the most senior dissenters, read out the findings of the ANC’s National Working Committee’s extraordinary meeting at party headquarters in Johannesburg.
Called to discuss the unprecedented disruptions caused by Zuma’s “midnight massacre” of the cabinet, and in particular erstwhile Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, the meeting eventually adjourned to announce its backing of Zuma’s presidency, its support of the new ministers, appreciation of the sacked ones and reiterate the government’s commitment to pursuing nuclear power, albeit at a rate the country could afford.
In terms of recovering from death, political rather than actual, this was a triumph of almost Lazarus-like proportions – or was it?
There is a problem the world over, but particularly in South Africa, to ascribe to reality that which is peddled and re-peddled on social media. Sometimes it’s an issue of fake news masquerading as real news, at others it’s an issue of wishful thinking over projecting.
The truth of the structure of the ANC, particularly in the composition of the 20-member National Working Committee – which is effectively the top structure of the more unwieldy National Executive Committee with its 100 members – was that irrespective of the sentiment outside the doors of Luthuli House and beyond, Zuma remains in good standing there.
Any recall of the president as wished by an increasing number of social bodies including, as of yesterday, the National Religious Leaders’ Forum, will never amount to anything more than hot air because only the ANC – and in this case the NEC – can recall the president, as it did so memorably in 2007 with President Thabo Mbeki.
The ANC’s power as an organisation, to close ranks and get dissidents back inside the tent – however humiliating the process might be for the individuals – is remarkable, bettered only by Zuma’s consummate ability as a politician.
Yesterday we saw just that.