REPERCUSSIONS OF KLEPTOCRACY WILL BE FELT FOR MANY YEARS TO COME

IT’S down to the wire as JZ races to his tumultuous career finishing line, and still counting.

His tenure in office, characterised by acrid ramifications (downgrades to junk status) and his failure to uphold the constitution (Constitutional Court finding), all these under the NEC’s nose and actions (or lack of), looks set to see its complete tilt. In the aftermath of widespread protests, as a result of his rash cabinet reshuffle, the motion of no confidence in the president fails yet again in Parliament. Eventually, the incorrigible and purportedly captured JZ, who never ceases to stun, outwits everyone, calms down the fury, and the estimated R1 trillion nuclear deal (and two more shady deals, who knows?) goes through. Just in time before his term as the president of the most cosmopolitan, developed African country comes to an end. The Guptas get their lion’s share.The loot is spread carefully and surreptitiously within the select-few Zuma cabal. The Guptas buy an exquisite island. Before everyone knows it, JZ is whisked away (in the same commercial aircraft that landed at Waterkloof military base for the Gupta wedding) to the island to avoid his much-anticipated, inevitable day in court with more than a dozen cases likely to be brought against him, some with overwhelming evidence ( Schabir Shaik served a sentence for his part in the crime). This may sound set out for a box office blockbuster.

But that’s how much JZ’s shenanigans are capable of stretching one’s imagination. The nuclear deal, in itself arguably a noble idea with sustainable benefits, is tainted by the dubious involvement of the Guptas.

JZ’s tenure at the helm of the ANC, has destabilised and destroyed Africa’s oldest, revered liberation movement and SA to unparalleled proportions. Just like apartheid, its repercussions will be felt way beyond this kleptocracy.

Patrick Mphuthi