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One day, when we tell the story of 2018 – the year in which kotas were banned and parents had to get creative with lunchboxes because polony was, quite literally, killing people – we will also tell the story of Jacob of Nkandla and how, in an Ozymandias fashion, his empire came crumbling down.
“Kwasuka sukela” (once upon a time), is how the isiZulu speakers among us may begin the story of this year.
The first sign that it was not going to be the chess master’s year was just 13 days into the new year, when the then president of the republic of South Africa was booed five times during his party’s, the ANC’s, 106th anniversary celebration.
With newly minted ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa giving marching orders officially for the first time, Msholozi was relegated to a seat next to Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg.
Ramaphosa’s election the previous month had already called time on the so-called 100% Zulu’s reign, but Zuma was playing in extra time, hoping to pull a rabbit out of a hat.
And, indeed, he tried. During the ANC’s elective conference, he had presented the country with the free education card, and in the same week of the ANC’s January 8 anniversary celebration, Zuma also announced that the deputy chief justice would head up the inquiry into state capture.
In the few weeks that followed, the new national executive committee (NEC) was running circles around itself, unsure of how to get rid of the man.
It was as if his zip was down but no one had the heart to tell him. For his part, Zuma continued to attend NEC meetings, something the other two living presidents of the ANC had long since given up doing.
Fast-forward to February, which came with an unprecedented announcement from Parliament’s presiding officers that for the first time in history, the state of the nation address (Sona) would be postponed.
Frustrated NEC members whispered to journalists – and, seemingly, to Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema as well – about attempts to convince the man to step down.
In the end, it was Paul Mashatile, the former ANC chairperson of Gauteng, known in the province fondly as “shemeni”, who took the rand’s whisperers into his confidence about what was going on.
When his conversation with big business was leaked during the Mining Indaba, the rest of society also got an official sneak peek into what was happening.
“President Zuma basically said to us: ‘I am not going anywhere … At the end we said: ‘Where we are now, we agreed that if the president doesn’t want to resign voluntarily, we will recall him like we did with president Mbeki,’” Mashatile was heard saying, to loud cheers.
“We have a party to run that is going to be very soon in an election campaign, and we don’t want to be dealing with other problems.
“I think you will agree with me that the one who is leading (Zuma) cannot give the message for the future. The one who is leading must give a farewell address and I don’t think he should do it at Sona.”
But the battle was far from over. One of the first ladies took to Instagram in defence of her bae, writing: “Kusazoshipha ukotshi darling” (all hell is about to break loose).
She wrote this on February 9, a day after Mashatile’s speech was leaked.
And so it came to pass that on Valentine’s Day, isiphithiphithi unfolded. Mashatile told journalists in Parliament that the ANC would table a motion of no confidence in Zuma for the following day.
At the Union Buildings, journalists camped out, anticipating an announcement from the first citizen.
At about 2pm, the SABC was invited for a chat with Zuma, who said: “The whole of 2017, this matter was being raised. In the NEC itself, we had two major discussions on the same request that had come, and I don’t see anything new that has been brought.
“I asked at that time as well what it is I have done, but speaker after speaker never came to say what it is that I have done,” Zuma said during the interview.
“I found it very unfair in a sense, very unfair to me, that this issue must be raised all the time.”
The same question had been posed in a press conference earlier on to secretary-general Ace Magashule, who responded by saying: “When we took this decision, we did not take this decision because comrade Jacob Zuma has done anything wrong.”
Valentine’s Day plans were put on ice as time seemed to drag its feet, without any indication of what would happen next.
Finally, just after 10pm, Zuma announced that he would be resigning. “See you somewhere,” he said, after addressing the nation for the last time.
His woes, however, were not yet over but rather compounded when he was summoned to appear in the Durban High Court on April 6 on charges related to corruption.
“Baya mangaza abantu asebefuna ukungi thatha angathi ngiyisboshwa, abantu engibathembile imphela (I am surprised by people who want me to be treated as if I am a criminal, people that I really trusted),” Zuma lamented to thousands outside the court.
Instead of giving the people what they wanted by singing Umshini Wami, Zuma opted for a refrain of betrayal: “Ngimanxeba nxeba zinsizwa zangakithi engakhula nazo (I am wounded by those close to me).”
As the year drew to a close, bringing the country closer to the elections, the former president began criss-crossing his home province of KwaZulu-Natal, campaigning for the ANC.
“Sometimes I hear talk that certain people won’t vote because of so and so, or because of Zuma. If you fight Zuma, you punish the ANC. Why are you punishing the ANC, what has it done?” he addressed his audience in isiZulu.
“The ANC has not done anything. If there is some fool with the surname Zuma which has wronged you, leave him alone. You vote for the ANC, not for that man.
“We vote so that the ANC stays in power. Stop taking Zuma’s problem and making it the ANC’s.
“I would call that maturity, because I am mature. The ANC NEC said I must resign before the end of my term and I asked: ‘Why?’ They said: ‘Just resign, resign.’ I asked: ‘But I want know what have I done?’
“There was no reason, but then I realised that this matter would divide the ANC and cause it to fight against itself, so I decided it was best to save the ANC, and I resigned. Even today I have no heartache about that decision because the ANC is still alive; I saved it. That is what I want.”
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