After a week of shocks, let’s pray that Zuma will leave SA standing

IT’S becoming increasingly difficult even for diehard sycophants to argue or pretend that President Jacob Zuma is — in accordance with his oath of office — working for the good of the country.

He’s used the presidency not only to feather his own nest but also to artfully shield himself from the law.

The summons served on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan proves that Zuma will stop at nothing, not even putting the country’s future in peril, to secure his interests and those of people close to him. As far as he’s concerned, the country can go to hell.

And as Shaun Abrahams was reading his interminable screed on Gordhan, Zuma himself was taking to the dance floor in Kenya with his host, Uhuru Kenyatta, a fellow scavenger, to celebrate the occasion. He was as happy as a lark. Back home, meanwhile, the country was on fire and teetering on the brink.

Zuma will end his term in office the way he began it — tussling with the law or bending it to suit his designs. He was at it again with attempts to stop the public protector from releasing her report on state capture. That’s in keeping with his behaviour throughout his presidency. The law is an instrument for his aggrandisement.

Something else happened this past week. Khwezi died. Nameless, faceless and hounded into exile, only in death did we learn that Zuma’s rape accuser’s real name was Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo. Her tormentors must be happy now that she’s no more. But it’s a serious indictment of society that she had to be sheltered in foreign lands for daring to seek redress.

Throughout her ordeal not once did Zuma appeal to his admirers to desist from harassing her or reach out to her to ease her pain. That’s who he is. He only looks after No 1.

Zuma was obviously found not guilty of raping Khwezi, but the comparison between what befell her and what he’s doing to the country is almost inescapable.

Hopefully, once he’s through with it, the country, unlike Khwezi, will still be standing or salvageable.

There are some who ask why we obsess so much about the wellbeing of one man. If Gordhan doesn’t have anything to hide, they pompously opine, let him clear his name — as if his name was ever blemished. But apparently Zuma, with his 783 charges hanging over him, doesn’t need to have his name cleared.

But it’s not about Gordhan per se. It’s about having a credible hand in charge of the public purse and making sure that public resources are not abused for nefarious ends.

It’s interesting that after Abrahams’s vitriolic tirade, all he could come up with against Gordhan was the approval of an underling’s early retirement package. What a letdown. Is that all there is to it? And this from an outfit that has gone to the highest court to prevent charges being preferred against Zuma.

If charging Zuma is a bridge too far for Abrahams, what about, say, Hlaudi Motsoeneng at the SABC, who, apart from numerous infractions, has given himself (yes, given himself!) several salary increases? Will the SABC board, which seems to exist in a parallel universe, be getting a summons?

The aim is obviously to get Gordhan out of the way so Zuma and his cronies can plunder at will. Abrahams is another addition to Zuma’s ever-expanding basket of poodles, to borrow a phrase.

“The days of disrespecting the National Prosecuting Authority are over,” Abrahams said, almost in the manner of a sergeant- major barking instructions at a boot camp. But one wouldn’t have thought that respect and the NPA belong in the same sentence.

Arresting Gordhan, with no concern for the consequences to the country, is probably one way of dealing with this disrespect.

But Abrahams has a generous side. He’s prepared to reconsider Gordhan’s case if Gordhan makes representations to him. Gordhan must prostrate himself in front of him to earn his magnanimity. That’s very kind. All Zuma’s flunkeys have one thing in common: they have chips on their shoulders. It probably has to do with their inadequacies.

Respect is not demanded; it is earned. And you earn respect by deeds, not words. The first thing Abrahams did on getting the job was to drop charges against Nomgcobo Jiba, his notorious deputy, and to give her even more responsibilities. She’s now been struck off the roll of advocates. Those are not the actions of somebody who deserves respect.

Refusing to prefer charges against Zuma while conveniently pursuing others on trumped-up and trivial charges is not the actions of somebody who deserves respect. He deserves contempt, and rightly so.

The charges against Gordhan and his co-accused should and will be laughed out of court. A pity that damage to the country has already been done.

But it’s worth repeating the larger point: in a democracy, wounds are often self-inflicted. You get the leaders you deserve. Zuma didn’t impose himself on us. It’s a costly reminder to choose better next time.

Those are not the actions of somebody who deserves respect