Crashing end to Zuma’s retirement plans

Former president Jacob Zuma clearly had big ideas about his life post his presidency.

He tried to get Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma elected as ANC president because he wanted to copilot the party and, later, the state, confident that the ANC would still be the majority party after the 2019 elections.

So, his idea was that he would fire up the campaign trail alongside Dlamini-Zuma as the ANC’s former president, and then act as the “elder statesman” once she became president.

His corruption charges would continue to be held in abeyance, he would still fob off allegations of state capture and he would travel the world on high-level missions.

Perhaps he would even get the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, which carries a reward of $5-million (about R58-million). It was a great retirement plan. The footage taken of Zuma’s reaction to the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president at the party’s December national conference should be understood in this context. He knew then that his dream had come to a crashing end.

From that moment at Nasrec to his last day at the Union Buildings on Wednesday, Zuma’s fiefdom unravelled. By his own admission, he had tried to buy time, wanting to do a farewell roadshow.

In his SABC interview, he expressed anger at not being allowed to introduce Ramaphosa to his “colleagues and friends” in the Brics nations and the African Union.

By the time Ramaphosa stood at the podium in parliament on Friday night to deliver the State of the Nation Address, the spectre of Zuma had been vanquished.

In just a few days it feels easier to

‘ ‘ He wanted to copilot the party and, later, the state

breathe and we no longer have to live in fear of Zuma’s next devastating move. But the country must still contend with what happens to Zuma now with his corruption charges pending and the state capture investigations and commission of inquiry in progress.

Many people have been wondering where Zuma has been since his late-nigh t resignation and whether he watched Ramaphosa’s election in parliament and swearing-in.

It could not have been easy for him to watch Ramaphosa deliver the Sona so adeptly and to receive a standing ovation from the house, considering the hostility and commotion that defined his own appearances in parliament.

Zuma did his level best to show the opposition parties and South Africans that he was unaffected by their protests. He had on several occasions tried to lecture opposition parties about how they should behave and treat him. So, it must have been galling for him to see Ramaphosa receive the reception that he so desired.

Zuma would probably never be able to face up to the fact that he was the master of his own demise and that his retirement would have turned out differently had he respected his oath of office and not surrendered to corruption.

Instead, he will spend his twilight years in disgrace, watching others carve their place in history and undoing his messes.