Is the deputy president fit for the job? The deeper you look, the more queries arise

So what makes a good president?

President Thabo Mbeki has about four years left to rule this country, but the debate is already gaining momentum as to who will replace him.

In part, the debate is fuelled by the success that Mbeki has had at the helm. It is also precipitated by the developments around Deputy President Jacob Zuma, in particular the negative revelations coming out of the Schabir Shaik trial.

The question has been asked, and it has been posed in many different ways.

There has been a debate recently about whether this country is ready for a woman president. Before that, a region of the ANC started the debate on whether Zuma should be the heir apparent to the throne.

This was soon followed by the ANC Youth League, which unequivocally said Zuma, as deputy president, was a natural for the top job.

The ANC Women's League intervened and disagreed, leading to an ugly exchange of words.

At least one political analyst has suggested that ANC national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota would be the best candidate for the job.

The question that is being asked in these debates is simply: Is Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma fit to rule South Africa?

The question is being asked not because Zuma is incapable. He has been a leader in the ANC for so many years, and is a hero of the struggle against apartheid.

The fact that he has risen to the rank of deputy president is a tribute to his personal skills and his great attributes as a politician.

However, questions about his suitability for the top job have been raised.

I'm afraid the answer to this issue lies in asking more questions, and perhaps later we will find an answer.

The first question is: How do we judge whether someone is a good or a bad president? What makes a good or a great president?

A study conducted recently by the American Psychological Association (APA) concluded that stubbornness and disagreeableness were two traits associated with great presidents.

The research also found that great presidents were also more assertive, achievement-striving, excitement-seeking, and more open to fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas and values.

According to the APA website, great presidents were also low on straightforwardness, vulnerability and order.

Most people will agree that, in addition to these attributes, at least five qualities have to be constant in the person who leads our country. These are:

• The president must have credibility - the trust of his nation.
• Every president must have a vision of where he or she wants to lead the nation.
• The president must be a realist or pragmatist.
• He must understand that presidential gains depend on the consent of the governed; that presidents without national consensus on major policies which affect people's daily lives are courting defeat.
• He must recognise that leadership requires the No 1 citizen of a country to have a special connection with the people.
   

Coming back to South Africa and Zuma, must the South African voters follow the lead given by Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, and push for a candidate - in his case, Zuma - because he is popular?

Other vexing questions include:

• Should South Africa have as its next president someone who is tainted with possible corruption, as evidenced in some of the allegations made in the Shaik trial?
• Should South Africans trust the national budget - all R418-billion of it - to the hands of a man who has been and continues to be unable to manage his personal finances?
• Do you want as president someone who has had more than 140 cheques returned unpaid?
• What hold do Zuma's benefactors - from Shaik, Vivian Reddy to Norah Fakude-Nkuna - have on the deputy president? Have they just been kind to him, or do they expect a payback soon - like as soon as he ascends the throne?
• Do we want to place the future of 43-million South Africans in the hands of a man who placed his financial future in the custody of someone who bluffed Mandela in order to secure funding for Zuma?

With acknowledgements to Estelle Ellis and The Star.