Jacob Zuma remains a divisive political figure in South Africa, notorious for his theatrics, corruption, and defiance of the Constitution. His actions, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, continue to stir controversy and destabilize politics. Despite his legal troubles, Zuma’s influence persists, challenging both the ANC and national unity.
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By Patrick McLaughlin
With elections past and with tumultuous days to come, Jacob Zuma has emerged as the political catalyst of our times. U Baba is the centre piece character who over time has brought things on, influenced our opinions, threatened the establishment, stolen from us and flagged the no-go areas. In more recent times he has carried with him a growing reputation as an exponent of the theatre of the absurd, not as a clown but as a power broker not interested in the rules. As a peddler of untruths, switched loyalties, magic firepools. disappearing bags of money, secretive meetings and more recently as a forever defendant in court cases, there are none so good as Zuma.
The wreckage he leaves behind is immense, so much so that some believe he has a team behind him with an interest in de-stabilization.
Shock tactics
For the undecided in the election, for the in-betweeners and the doubters, Zuma became a yardstick of something not to have around under any circumstances, carrying with him as he does the memory of the long years of looting, parliamentary theatrics and corruption. Then, suddenly out of the blue, we learnt another thing. In Kwa-Zulu Natal there are 43,000 people who think exactly the opposite.
Right from the beginning, Zuma’s appearance as the MK on the ballot papers, with lack of picture thanks to the IEC’s insistence on playing by the rules, woke up a good proportion of the electorate from their somnambulance and indecision. In fact, the line was drawn for them in the sand and many felt as if Zuma was the issue and not hunger, joblessness or poor service delivery. Even the thought of coalitions seemed better than having Zuma in their lives again.
Zuma the Medicine Man
So, in some ways, Zuma for most of us has pegged out the line that cannot not be crossed. He doesn’t like the Constitution, he doesn’t like the Reserve Bank; MK wants to bring in national conscription and start the NHI right now. In the process of reminding us of the MK suddenly adopted by him, what Zuma really did was to turn Cyril Ramaphosa back into the indecisive, something-or-other person that we had before, making him now the guy that didn’t seem so bad. Maybe, perhaps, Ramaphosa could be tolerated somewhere in a coalition, some suggested, or perhaps even side-lined to become the father of the nation – a long-held want President Ramaphosa seemed to be telling us from his last speech on television.
And after this great Zuma moment of grabbing the solo spot at election time and soliciting the nation to “slow down don’t rush”, the question of whom to support in the race for power also seems easy for the peacekeeper type – especially after the finger wagging exercise and the warnings. Except, as we say, for the 43,000 in KwaZulu-Natal.
Don’t look for trouble where there is no trouble
After elections, when Zuma drove again to the IEC centre at Gallagher demanding that the process of elections be disregarded, his motives became more apparent. He was challenging the Constitution itself under which the elections were being held rather than any results. He warned that MK would not tolerate the outcome or indeed the election itself. Immediately comrades in khaki gear with MK insignia were seen terrorising employers in Wentworth KZN – a warehouse business who might have had undocumented immigrants in their employ, a major cause of township unrest across South Africa.
Zuma knows how to pick an issue. This deployment of some of his forces would indicate that Jacob Zuma, or his backers, have got it right by going straightaway to the nub of one of the real voter issues in the engine room – an issue mostly unrecognised in Sandton or Cape Town Cities and an issue particularly applying to Zulu territory. Zuma knows that foreigners and foreign labour are detested, particularly in KZN– a suppurating wound that goes back to the British occupation – and this is an area where a spark can cause a fire.
https://parlyreportsa.com/energy/mk-manifesto-comes-with-empty-promises
Through a mirror
Zuma’s appearance in the ballot box outcome is no longer about whether our future leader is to be a socialist with a background of pseudo-Marxism; knew Chris Hani or not; and not even about which minister t0 be runs finance and the national budget. It is about whether the Constitution of South Africa should be disregarded and he is allowed back into Parliament to get one ahead of Cyril Ramaphosa. As things stand, Zuma is not only disallowed into the parliamentary precinct but it must be assumed that he will not be able to fulfil the first duty of a cabinet minister in reporting to Parliament, nor be a member of a provincial legislature, an extension of the parliamentary system.
His most recent move is therefore to start at the beginning of the chain of events to come and disrupt the whole procedure in Parliament whereby the new president of South Africa is appointed. There will be plenty more similar moves. With a Government of National Unity now to be the outcome in Parliament within a week or so, battle lines are being re-drawn. Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma has positioned himself as a player to be ignored with consequences. Zuma’s fight is personal and with the law; with the judiciary under Chief Justice Raymond Zondo; and with a process that stands in the way of letting him back into the game to play top dog.
At the moment MK is fighting on two fronts. Firstly, to get a GNU agreement in KZN where the DA is fielding youngsters Dean Macpherson and Chris Pappas, both of whom got swamped by the 43,000. In national talks it’s a question of who blinks first – against a well-advised ANC team. There is very little wiggle room.
At the moment Zuma is still playing the role of a troublemaker to get his foot on the ladder and in so doing, he could well become the “modern major-general” portrayed in Pirates of Penzance should he stay in this role. But we think he will not. Zuma is a political chameleon and whatever happens, he can shape and form into something new. There is still a lot more collateral damage caused by this man to come.
Read also:
- Woode-Smith: Why SA needs a pro-free market coalition
- SA’s three options for government, all are fraught with danger
- SA’s ideological divide: Only business can end poverty – Andrew Kenny
This article was originally published on the Parlyreportsa and has been republished with permission
