If Zuma pays back the money Cliff of the cuff

Jacob Zuma can’t be a happy man. Finding himself locked up in a cold cell can only be a lonely and nightmarish experience. He’s left with disturbing thoughts as he contemplates an unsure future.

Also the realisation that as a former president, he’s leaving a deplorable legacy of having not only cocked a snook at the constitution he helped ratify while still on the straight and narrow, but as well as going down as the president who led a country down the tubes. Fraternising with and scoring from hardened criminals add to the sorry list.

So it’s not only a lumpy bed and tell-tale noises of prison life keeping him awake at night. We can’t help empathizing with a man his age having to go through what must be a living hell.

But there is a way he can get some of his stripes back and probably be freed. If it comes with genuine remorse, his official gallery portrait might still take its rightful place.

Remember the Kruger millions? It’s a hoard of gold reputed to have been hidden in South Africa by or on behalf of President Paul Kruger to avoid it being captured by the British during the Second Boer War. According to legend, about two million pounds in buried gold and diamonds lie hidden in the Blyde River area in Mpumalanga.

This hoard could’ve been useful getting the Boers back on their feet, but it was never found. Total waste.

This got me thinking. We strongly suspect Jacob Zuma of having a nest egg built up over the years provided by French arms dealers through his pal Shabir Sheik. Another big whack came rolling in as mining deals were made with the Guptas. Unlike the Kruger stash, Jacob probably hid his in grey offshore banking institutions paying healthy dividends. This ain’t piggy bank stuff.

The master plan? Jacob swallows his pride, withdraws the funds and creates a local trust. He then opens Nkandla for a week’s festivities during which he publicly confesses and asks forgiveness. Then the big moment. He hands over one of many cheques to the department of health, among the monies specifically earmarked for the purchase of vaccines.

We South African are known to easily forgive, like in the current volunteer community clean-up campaigns in the wake of the devastating street riots. Here, race, religion and culture play no part.

So letting Jacob off the hook wouldn’t pose a major problem. It might very well be his last chance to redeem himself and leave a decent legacy. The epoch-making gesture would undoubtedly defuse what could still remain a smouldering heap waiting to take flame sporadically.