Ace, Zuma antics a diversion from rebuilding
The shenanigans that have convulsed the ANC following the suspension of the party’s secretary-general, Ace Magashule, have many South Africans worrying that the country will be plunged into instability.
The anxiety was exacerbated when several voice notes were shared on social media with supporters of former president Jacob Zuma being called to assemble in Nkandla, allegedly to “protect” the former president from imminent arrest.
Rest your minds. Nothing of the sort will happen. These hysterical actions by the Radical Economic Transformation faction of the ANC — and the stars of the State Capture project — are what many of us predicted would happen as the days of their reckoning finally arrive.
Those days are here. Magashule, who likes to hide behind what the ANC branches or ANC delegates said at the last party conference in 2017, now has to do exactly what those delegates said at Nasrec.
For months the issue of stepping down if charged with serious crimes has been discussed in the ANC. Forty days ago Magashule asked for an extra 30 days before he left. Then he asked to consult Thabo Mbeki,
Jacob Zuma, Mathews Phosa and Kgalema Motlanthe.
We knew what Motlanthe, Phosa and Mbeki would tell him: comply. Yet in an extraordinary feat of political contortionism, he managed to find a way to avoid doing the right thing. In desperation, the party bigwigs wrote him a letter asking him to stay home.
He replied by sending out his own letter suspending President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The ANC has recalled two presidents — Mbeki and Zuma — since 1994. In both cases meetings of the NEC were held over days deliberating on these decisions. Magashule, sitting in his living room with a free email account, thought he could do it by himself without even consulting his fellow NEC members.
Brave, or just plain stupid? Then there is Zuma, who has been given numerous chances by the Zondo Commission and others to come before them and clear his name and refused, now mobilising a toy army to protect him. Again, there is no army there. These are the very last kicks of a dying horse.
The conmen have run out of tricks. The law has fangs again, and is knocking at the door. The days of reckoning have arrived. What we are seeing are the fruit of Ramaphosa’s reform of the National Prosecuting Authority, SA Revenue Service, Asset Forfeiture Unit and others. The law enforcement agencies now have bite.
So there is no need to worry. Whatever Magashule does, he will be suspended and the ANC will move swiftly on without him. Does he have support? It’s minimal. If he did not have state money to use he would not be able to fill an RDP house with his supporters.
His allies are getting weaker. If you are a social media user you would have seen pictures and videos of Supra Mahumapelo, the former premier of the North West, at a church in the highly impoverished village of Mathibestad addressing a church crowd last weekend. The gathering was paltry. The people of Mathibestad, who saw no development under Mahumapelo’s kleptocratic administration, went about their business.
The Zuma-magashule faction is running out of resources, steam and energy. These are yesterday’s people, making wilder and wilder promises to smaller and smaller numbers of people.
Emotions were heightened when Thabo Mbeki was ousted from the presidency in 2008. Yet SA did not fall. Ten years later Zuma tried to defy the ANC and stay on in the Union Buildings. He ultimately left, looking punch drunk. Compared to these events, the Magashule shenanigans are small fry. This is not a crisis. It’s a blip.
What now? This latest development continues to consolidate power in the Ramaphosa wing of the ANC. If Ramaphosa and his key advisers continue to rack up these gains, it clears the way to faster implementation of their reform agenda.
That can only be good news for South Africans who have for far too long been suffering from unemployment, poor education, poor services, inequality and other ills while the ANC has looted and engaged in palace politics. A ruling party focused on policies and the implementation thereof would be a welcome relief from the past 15 years of discussing who has shafted who in the party.
SA has many challenges. It is broke and its people are broken. Women live in constant fear of gender-based violence and crime, children too. As the world reawakens from the Covid-19 nightmare, perhaps these latest developments in our politics will lead to us all beginning the rebuilding of our country. It really is time to take back our country from those who have abused it for so long.
Beyond the ANC, the real challenge is to build a strong opposition to make this a truly competitive democracy.
Zuma-magashule faction is running out of resources, steam and energy. These are yesterday’s people, making wilder and wilder promises to smaller and smaller numbers of people