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Perhaps the saddest thing about the malodour that is the Jacob Zuma presidency is that we all knew from the onset just how rotten it would be.
His comrades in the ANC leadership knew. Ordinary ANC members knew. The public knew. The whole world knew. It is therefore shocking to find us being shocked about Zuma selling the country to whichever bidder gets to him first.
Zuma’s greasy liaison with the Guptas was no accident. His penchant for collecting sugar daddies at a faster rate than Mshoza and Khanyi Mbau was laid bare nearly two decades ago when revelations of his relationship with Schabir Shaik and other shady businesspeople were first exposed.
By the time solid evidence was placed before the courts and the nation’s eyes, Zuma’s effete moral character was general knowledge.
It was obvious that the right-and-wrong buttons in his brain were dysfunctional and the man could not tell the one from the other.
Despite this, a concerted battle was waged for him to become the leader of the governing party and the president of the republic. Institutions were brought down on his behalf. People’s lives were destroyed. The nation’s character was distorted. And we, the people of South Africa, made peace with the fact that a corruptible leader was what we wanted.
No one could have put it better than Julius Malema, who, as leader of the ANC Youth League, was a brigadier in the Zuma army. Addressing a rally during the 2009 election campaign, Malema poured scorn on those who were warning that Zuma’s corruptible ways would infect the country in a most deadly way.
The raucous applause of that crowd captured the feelings of many South Africans who bought into the weird conspiracy theories that Zuma and his associates were peddling.
To his credit, Malema has since repented and dedicates himself to giving Zuma sleepless nights.
Today we point fingers at the Guptas and chastise them for capturing the state and corrupting South Africa. We are so wrong. The Guptas found a ready-made product in Zuma.
When he landed in their hands, he had been
marinated by a series of dirty businesspeople. He was ready for the taking. And
the avaricious family made a good meal of him.
With little sense of dignity, Zuma became their serf, being sent around by them like a loyal errand boy. It would have been fine if this lack of self-respect affected only him and those closest to him.
But he took us all along on his errands. His family may have benefited nicely from the relationship, but South Africa’s body politic was the victim. Our political culture, economy, moral fibre and national sense of self-worth were the casualties.
Mature societies can withstand the shock and demonstrate the ability to quickly recover from bad leaders such as the US’s George W Bush, Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff and the UK’s Margaret Thatcher. We will be stumbling and holding on to tables for quite some time to come.
On this weekend, when there is much talk of a Messiah who came to save the world, South Africa should caution itself against believing in another saviour.
Only the reasonable half of the human race that prefers Real Madrid to that other team with the funny colours is allowed to believe in a Messiah in the form of Zinedine Zidane.
Even he will be scrutinised, criticised and treated like a human being in spite of his larger-than-life presence.
Back home we were allowed to believe in a Mandela saviour because he represented a special generation that gave everything of themselves to liberate us from an evil system.
Those who wrongly believed in Zuma saw in him a
man who could save his party and the country from the suffocating stranglehold
of Thabo Mbeki’s leadership. There is now a growing clamour for another saviour
who will rescue us.
As we size up possible successors to Zuma, we must acknowledge that all will be fallible, but we must still hold them to the highest standards. They must know that they will be given a torrid time from the moment they indicate their willingness to lead the country.
They will be
scrutinised right down to the colour of their toothbrushes and their favourite
shampoo brand. They must know that if we are to entrust them with the Zidane
role of coaching South Africa to glory, they will have to work hard to restore
dignity to the nation’s highest office. They will be leading a hurt and betrayed
people.
