Zuma is here for the long haul

The president has said that he is not going to contest the ANC leadership or presidency in December (“Jacob Zuma is fast running out of political lives”, June 26). He knows he is going, so what political lives are you talking about? He also knows that the president of the ANC eventually becomes the president of the country.

So, in January 2018, Zuma will be home at Nkandla resting nicely there. There is no need for you to tell us about him running out of political lives; there is no such. You are the ones who are obsessed about seeing his back. ■ Commentators have been saying for years that Zuma is going downhill, but he has shown time and again that he is not to be underestimated and understands the inner workings of the ANC and how to use that to his advantage better than most people give him credit for. He has been down, but manages to come out on top or stay where he is.

He was fired as deputy president, then came the Kwezi rape case, 783 corruption charges, Nkandla, poor results in the 2016 polls, the State of Capture report, the firing of Nene and then Gordhan, and junk status. But he still keeps going. Trust me, he is not going anywhere. ■ Do we really want to unseat Zuma now? He is not the problem; the ANC is the problem. The ANC created former president Thabo Mbeki with his Aids denialism and his clientocracy (or rule by deployment). Removing Zuma now will propel his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, to power. He’s as smooth an operator as any — smooth enough to keep the ANC cadaver alive for another few years. Rather keep Zuma in place to finish the job of demolishing the monstrous ANC from inside.

Unless, of course, we can get his ludicrous ex-wife to replace him. She’ll finish the job in a month.