INLSA
Max Du Preez
He escaped prosecution on serious fraud and corruption charges after an improper manipulation of the National Prosecuting Authority and the intelligence services.
His financial adviser and friend was sent to jail for the corrupt dealings between the two of them, just to be granted medical parole while clearly not on death’s door.
The NPA is defying a high court order to hand over secret tapes and documents relating to the decision not to charge him.
He has four wives, yet he had sex with at least two daughters of old friends of his. One accused him of rape, the other had his child.
Like other self-styled Big Men of Africa, he had hundreds of millions of state money used to help build his private luxurious village, complete with underground bunkers.
The country looked on as his clan massively enriched themselves.
He has a very suspicious relationship with a super-wealthy and powerful Indian family that, according to weekend reports, even helped one of his wives buy an expensive house.
Latest reports have it that his brothers benefited from state spending on his village.
Corruption, fraud and tenderpreneurship have massively blossomed during his term in office.
Education has further crumbled under his leadership. The decline in the culture and efficiency of policing accelerated while he was in charge.
He has waged a war of attrition against the constitution, the judiciary and the media and shown troubling anti-intellectual tendencies.
Under his leadership, the ANC has deteriorated into a mess of debilitating infighting, careerism, utter disorganisation and rampant populism.
In fact, millions of South Africans feel ashamed and deeply embarrassed to be led by such a man.
And yet.
And yet the party that represents more than six out of 10 voters is about to re-elect Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma as its leader and thus continuing as president of South Africa.
How on earth did this happen?
The media, cartoonists, political analysts and the opposition found an easy target in Zuma.
But it is important to acknowledge that the decline in the ANC and general governance cannot be blamed on Zuma alone.
The shame of what is happening with the ANC and the government should be carried by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, the cabinet, the top six leaders at Luthuli House and the entire national executive of the ANC.
Zuma is a deeply flawed human being and in my view clearly not the kind of politician who should have been given much power.
Zuma has spent his entire adult life in the ANC. He has been on the national executive committee since 1977, head of intelligence from 1987 and deputy president between 1999 and 2005.
The ANC leadership, from local to national levels, knew exactly who and what Zuma was when they kicked out Thabo Mbeki and put Zuma in his place in 2007.
The national executive committee and the national working committee of the ANC protected and defended him right through his term as president that started in December 2007.
They knew very well that the decision to drop criminal charges against him was a purely political one and did nothing about it.
They knew very well that the R250 million-plus spent on his private enclave of Nkandla was an absolute scandal.
Not a squeak – instead, they accused critics of racism, unAfricanism and disrespecting the office of the president.
Most cabinet ministers and premiers, even mayors, dared not say anything about Zuma’s abuse of state funds and lavish lifestyle because they were guilty of these themselves.
It isn’t the primary task of the leader of the ANC to keep the party organisation in good shape, to control and develop local branches and educate new cadres.
That is the task of the secretary general, Gwede Mantashe, and the national working committee.
The embarrassing chaos at the branch and provincial gatherings to nominate new leaders should be blamed largely on Mantashe, his staff at Luthuli House and the regional leadership.
In short: the ANC of 2012 deserves to have a Zuma as its leader again.
In a way, he is a metaphor for the sad state of the movement once led by Albert Luthuli, OR Tambo and Nelson Mandela.
There is another side to the ANC. There are many people who would die with their ANC membership cards in their top pockets who feel deeply betrayed by the developments of the last few years.
These people, and some of our best minds in the country are among them, should now reflect on why they didn’t fight the rot in the movement with more vigour.
Even among the rotten there is a sense that something has to be done – just not now.
Hence the nomination of Cyril Ramaphosa as Zuma’s deputy by most ANC regions.
But does Ramaphosa have the guts, first to accept the job as deputy president and then to stop the decay? Has he not lost all desire to get his hands dirty?
