Zuma as president

by Editor · September 24, 2008

Now that the dust is settling over the uncertainties concerning Jacob Zuma�s bid to become South Africa�s next president, the citizens of the country must find a way to live with the ANC president and his followers, if they have not done so already.

Many South Africans will feel that Mr Zuma is not qualified for the presidency on moral and ethical grounds�a case which this newspaper has made in the past. Such misgivings may certainly find expression in the forthcoming election campaign and in the voting booths. Mr Zuma�s personal history will doubtless be highlighted by opposition parties, though it would be preferable if the election was fought primarily on points of policy and the candidates� competence to lead.

But beyond that, little is to be gained by overstating Mr Zuma�s personal defects, never mind by demonising him. Even Mr Zuma�s opponents, especially those outside the precariously divided ANC, must extend to him now a measure of equanimity. He will bear a huge responsibility to the nation and, whatever has come before, his monumental tasks needs not be burdened by metaphorical showerheads.

We must also have some compassion for him, because without the allegations of financial improprieties having been tested in court, Mr Zuma will be followed by a dark cloud of suspicion � even if that cloud is in many ways of his own making.

Events relating to Mr Zuma�s personal, political and legal battles over the past few years cannot be easily forgotten, especially the deplorable behaviour of some of his supporters. It would be a mistake, however, to tar all Zuma backers with the same brush. That movement comprised a multitude of factions, some harbouring conflicting aspirations which may yet produce new battlegrounds. Simply put, not all of Mr Zuma�s support was drawn from the ranks of those political lunatics whose shrill assaults on the foundations of our democratic dispensation sometimes sailed dangerously close to acts of treason.

Other Zuma factions have acted with greater restraint and exhibited thoughtful and principled leadership qualities, especially on the major issues where Thabo Mbeki�s presidency let down the country: HIV/Aids, poverty relief, public transparency and accountability, and Zimbabwe. And on occasion even the smug loudmouths among Zuma supporters have produced reasonable ideas.

It is an inevitably political reality that Mr Zuma will have to repay some of those who pledged to kill for him with political patronage. At the same time, it must be hoped that Mr Zuma will manage to correct a regrettable development in the ANC under Mr Mbeki�s leadership in which loyalty and sycophancy were rewarded over competence and virtue.

There have been voices in the Zuma camp calling for a thorough purge of corruption in government and the civil service, even calling for an audit of corruption in the arms deal. It would be a most welcome paradox if the man suspected of corrupt conduct were to preside over effective anti-graft measures, and more so if the man in whose name our democracy was so brutishly undermined were to invigorate it again.

We must pray that Mr Zuma will have the fortitude to preclude the political excesses implicit in the behaviour of his shock troops. He will have to choose his inner circle with great care, even reaching out to political opponents � perhaps also to people outside the ANC-led alliance � to heal the nation.

Indeed, coming after the machiavellian regime of Mr Mbeki, a reconciler backed by a team of truly principled leaders might yet produce a great presidency.