The real test for Zuma will be at the polls
MONDAY DECEMBER 14
T2015 HE PEOPLE of South Africa were warned: “Jacob Zuma – at best an incompetent, at worst a man who believes it is acceptable to take bribes – poses a grave risk to this country.”
The warning read: “Zuma will be a heavily indebted president. He would owe political favours to the curious alliance of ultra-left and/or dishonest politicians who are pinning their hopes on his ascendancy.
“The first assault of a Zuma presidency would be on the independent institutions of democracy, with the greatest effort going into the destruction of the power of independent prosecution (agencies).
“Institutions such as Sars, which would threaten the successfully prosecuted but newly rehabilitated elite, would find their independence curtailed.
“Parastatals would likely find themselves under new and less independent management as the crony state takes hold.
“Credible, skilled persons holding office in such institutions would flee to the private sector, or abroad.
“This would, in turn, open the society to corruption on a massive scale. Without the diminishing prospect of judicial consequences, the scale of graft and fraud in the public and private sectors would escalate.
“Service delivery would all but cease as the state machinery stuttered to a halt, mired in corruption and bereft of skills. The poor would suffer…
“Businesses needing to interact with the state would find themselves forced into cronyism. Those that did not play along would find themselves isolated.
“The upshot of all of this would be a deterioration in South Africa’s sovereign rating as global agencies re-rated the country’s debt-worthiness.
“South Africans… wake up. Your country is facing ruin.”
Strong words. But not recent. The warning above was issued in October 2005, by Ray Hartley, then deputy editor of the Sunday Times. A full 10 years ago.
In the past few days, one could get the impression this anti-Zuma chorus is growing louder now, dramatically. But is that an accurate representation of South Africans’ views? One suspects not.
A majority of South Africans have happily chosen to endorse Jacob Zuma through two general elections. Has that changed?
One hears now of “lines being crossed” and “the final straw”. But will the president’s actions of late-2015 have any impact on the majority’s view of him? Or of his party? Do a majority of South Africans still believe our future is in “safe hands”? Who do most South Africans trust with the lives of their children?
The voices we hear in the “court of public opinion” in daily life are one thing. But the election booth is where the future is actually decided. That’s the voice that really matters, and deserves the most respect.
We shall hear what it says.