State-of-the-Nation: A Test of Leadership

by Editor · February 3, 2016

When Jacob Zuma takes to the parliamentary podium to address South Africa in his annual State-of-the-Nation address on February 11, he will have an opportunity to showcase the successes of his government, but also to explain the alarming accumulation of blunders and scandals that have emanated from his administration.

Later this year South Africans will vote in the local elections. While these municipal polls usually do not generate the enthusiasm of national elections, the 2016 version will provide a barometer of the nation’s mood, especially concerning the performance of the Zuma-led African National Congress.

With the ANC’s national conference, in which the party elects its national executive committee, due in December 2017, the local elections may well influence the future leadership of the party, and therefore the country.

If the electorate repudiates the Zuma-led ANC, then the party’s membership could decide that a fundamental change in leadership is necessary, for the good of the ANC and the country.

The local elections will be a valid testing ground for the future of Mr Zuma and his faction, unlike the ill-conceived and divisive #zumamustfall campaign which serves only to strengthen the president’s backing among those who otherwise might waver in their support.

With the effects of a free-falling economy which is subject to external pressures outside the government’s control as well as systemic internal failure being felt by almost all strata of our society, the nation now seeks the authentic leadership which the electorate expected Mr Zuma to provide when it again entrusted the fortunes of the country into his hands in 2014.

Of late, the necessary quality of leadership we should expect from our president has been painfully absent. The State of the Nation address will be the pivotal point at which Mr Zuma must convince South Africans that he is a good and serious leader.

This means that the failings of his government cannot be glossed over or giggled away, nor ascribed wholly to apartheid or racism or the enemies of transformation.

True leadership requires the humility to take responsibility for failures while finding concrete ways to redress these.

A leader who cannot provide these elementary qualities should relinquish his position, and thereby demonstrate a modicum of leadership.

We need a leader who takes concrete action against maladministration and corruption, removing and not strategically deploying those who fail ethical measure.

We need a leader who can persuasively reassure South Africans and the rest of the world that he has the capacity and gravitas to address the economic and social crises facing the country.

We need a leader whose motivation is to serve the people, and not to be served by them.

The South African public is entitled to ask: Is Mr Zuma still capable of becoming such a leader, late into his presidential career? And if he isn’t, are there any plausible leaders who can guide South Africa out of its present shadows?