As Zuma takes office

by Editor · May 6, 2009

In the past this newspaper has questioned Jacob Zuma�s moral fitness to serve South Africa as president. Last month�s elections showed that almost a third of the country�s electorate differed with that view. It is now Mr Zuma�s turn to prove wrong those who have doubted his ethical integrity and prove right those who have invested trust in him.

Mr Zuma will need to be given the opportunity to do just that, even by those opposed to his presidency. Whatever the circumstances surrounding the dropping of corruption charges against him, and the deplorable machinations which preceded that, he must be granted a clean slate to enable him to preside over a government which has been given a convincing mandate. Backed by that mandate, it would be mistaken to hold against him, as president, past mistakes and suspicions. The popular image depicting Mr Zuma with a shower above his head is no longer appropriate.

At the same time, Mr Zuma must persuade those who mistrust him that he is a better man than his public image in some quarters would suggest. Even with the backing of a strong electoral mandate, there is very little room for error in the process of repairing a poor and divisive image.

Validated though his supporters in the African National Congress-led alliance may feel by their electoral success, there must be no time for hubris. Their mandate must be accepted with humility. The ANC must now return to a sense of public service, rejecting self-aggrandisement and the sense of entitlement that permeated the Mbeki era.

To that effect, Mr Zuma must follow through on his promise to clamp down on corruption, and uncompromisingly so. This applies not only to extortion in some offices of the civil service, but also to venality in government and parliament.

An unambiguous signal of the new government�s seriousness in tackling corruption would involve the establishment of an independent and fully empowered inquiry into the arms deal.

Mr Zuma cannot afford to repay old loyalties by dishing out positions of power and influence to individuals who are not competent to consummate the ANC�s election manifesto. His appointment of ministers and leading civil servants must be informed only by merit, not by political intrigue and dividends. In this way, Mr Zuma will make a concrete gesture to signal how his government differs from that of ex-President Thabo Mbeki�s.

Mr Zuma will also have to preside over the restoration of the democratic institutions his supporters and the Mbeki government have done so much to undermine and damage, especially the judiciary. It can no longer be acceptable that the police, army, national broadcaster and other organs of the state are subject to the exclusive appointments of ANC loyalists.

The impressive 77% turn-out in the April election, and the largely free and fair nature in which it was run, confirm that South Africans continue to value our democracy, even if we are still way off from a genuine electoral contest (the Western Cape apart). But democracy finds expression not only at the ballot box. It is the manner in which the country�s democratic institutions are conducted and by which the public holds government and public servants accountable that provide us with a measure of our democracy�s health.

As he assumes the presidency of South Africa on May 9, Mr Zuma would do well to acknowledge that he has been called to serve all South Africans � even those who did not support him on April 22.