Zuma must fall – be careful what you wish for

IT seems that the call by the ANC for potential presidential candidates not to start promoting themselves in the race for the presidency is different things to different people.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is actively and, dare I say it, aggressively promoting herself as the next president. She appears so sure of herself that she has already surrounded herself with a security detail worthy of the president himself. Go figure!

Mind you, this security is based on an alleged attempt to rob or kidnap her. This incident has about as much credibility as the Saxonwold shebeen and, even if it were true, she is not due any more protection than a normal citizen, but then I guess the one person standing between our giggling president and 783 charges of corruption and fraud must be worth protecting.

In the other corner, and there appear to be only two corners in this issue, is Cyril Ramaphosa. He seems to be heeding the call for candidates to refrain from campaigning. If so, then he is not the president we seek.

We need a person with big cajones to take on Jacob Zuma, and clearly Cyril lacks them. His weak-kneed retreat recently, after he had suggested that Zuma should stand down and then backed off, shows a man who has not got the guts to follow through.

Maybe he believes he can be more effective within the party than outside, but I doubt it.

He has seen the National Union of Mineworkers, which he helped establish, seriously weakened by newcomer Amcu. He also has the ghost of Marikana haunting him.

Does he ever wince when the issue of white monopoly capital is raised? He has served on so many white capitalist boards that it makes his approval of radical economic reform, whatever that may be, at odds with his previous involvement with these companies.

If not Cyril to take on Nkosazana, then who? It seems almost inexplicable that there are no real good candidates within the ANC but Jacob has ensured that there are no people in leadership positions that could challenge him, Cyril included. This means that an ineffectual and corrupt president surrounds himself with ineffectual and possibly corrupt ministers, none of whom will challenge him.

So if you want Zuma to fall, you had better make sure his replacement is a strong leader with integrity who will put the interest of all the people of South Africa ahead of himself and his party. After all, he or she is the president of the Republic of South Africa.

Will we find such a person in the ANC? Doubt it! Malcolm Dodds, Sherwood,

Port Elizabeth