Bishops and pawns protect the queen

Don’t write off Zandile Gumede just yet; her forces are standing ready

F ew politicians are as adept as Zandile Gumede at playing both chess and poker with the same hand. Gumede has yet to get a fair hearing in a courtroom. That is her right, as it is for every citizen. The crucial distinction is that, unlike ordinary citizens, public office bearers should not be allowed to play the “innocent until proven otherwise” hand as liberally as they do.

For a case to be brought against the former mayor of eThekwini, the criminal justice system had to be able to demonstrate a prima facie case of wrongdoing. While that matter plays itself out before the courts, Gumede ought not to be protesting too much.

There is a higher order of accountability and morality to which we must hold our public officials. The slightest implication of wrongdoing should be sufficient for public office bearers to step aside and subject themselves to the legal process.

Gumede’s playbook is riddled with high drama: resist, organise, mobilise, campaign, negotiate and negate. One should not have anticipated any less.

The stakes are very high. First, the prize is the chair of one of the most influential ANC regions in the country in terms of conference voting power. Second, the eThekwini municipality commands a budget comparable to that of a small country. Add political power to a massive public purse and there is everything to play for.

It would have been precious being a fly on the wall in the run up to Gumede’s swearing in at the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature. One can reasonably surmise that the queen, with enough bishops, castles, soldiers, a kingmaker and pawns surrounding her, tossed around the move that she would exit the eThekwini regional contest in return for the obscurity of a parliamentary seat.

None of the negotiators from the Provincial Executive Committee would have been under any illusions that her move to the legislature meant Gumede was removing herself from the politics of the eThekwini region. It may have just been a clumsy move by the ANC leadership to win a bit of time while the legal process trudged along. Gumede has played her cards very close to her chest in the feverish campaigning for the eThekwini regional conference.

The ill-considered move to shift her to the legislature backfired spectacularly within the ANC and the court of public opinion.

In the latter, it gave the impression the ANC was yet again soft-pedalling on allegations of corruption. Gumede’s name featured prominently in the meeting of the ANC’s National Executive Committee just days later. Not only were there directives for implicated office bearers to step aside but provinces were required to furnish naughty lists to the mother body. The response was predictably ballistic, as the headlines of the past weekend have shown.

Those implicated in corruption do their best to shy away from the public spotlight. Gumede went to the extent of refusing to respond to media enquiries with the argument that she was treated unfairly. That may just be a temporary manoeuvre as everyone with ambitious political agendas actively seeks out a sympathetic media ear. Interesting days lie ahead.

There is a strong body of opinion that, in spite of having been removed from the mayoral hot seat, she still calls the shots within the eThekwini Metro Council. That support goes deep into the patronage networks nurtured during her tenure. Evidence of that may be found in the large number of councillors suspected of dodgy dealings. Their interests are not tied to Luthuli House’s vow to clean up.

News reports indicate several members of her “camp” who are facing charges may not be able to contest or vote at the long-awaited upcoming regional elections and this may weaken Gumede further. But it may be too soon to write her political obituary even though the legal cards may not be falling in her favour. This is a layered and complex political game, especially in a province like KwaZulu-Natal, and she may well emerge tainted; but not guilty.

There does not appear to be any strategy for a fresh administration in the city or a bold new political leadership in the region. That vacuum is precisely where the Gumede forces are standing ready to roll out their gameplan. DM186