Publication: Friends of Jacob Zuma website Issued: Date: 2007-12-22 Reporter: Ranjeni Munusamy

Zuma Can Heal the ANC Even Though He Too is Still Hurting

 

Publication 

Friends of Jacob Zuma Website
Date

2007-12-22
Reporter Ranjeni Munusamy

Web Link

www.friendsofjz.co.za

 

In weeks and months to come, much news space will be dedicated to analysis of "The Polokwane Uprising" and how it came to pass that the most powerful man in Africa was unseated by someone whose political obituary has long been trumpeted in the media.

It is unlikely though, that editors and political commentators will acknowledge that they completely misread the sentiment in the ANC and therefore consistently misled the public about Jacob Zuma's political standing and future. It will perhaps be even harder to admit that the media onslaught against Zuma was a key contributor to the deep-seated anger amongst ANC members which manifested itself throughout the proceedings at the Polokwane conference this past week.

The suspicion and distrust over credentials, the rejection of an electronic voting system, the resolve of delegates to queue for hours in the rain to vote rather than attend the conference commissions, and the insurrection against the former president and national executive were all signs that ANC members had reached their tolerance threshold. For far too long, their intelligence had been undermined. They were told what choices to make because they were seemingly incapable of knowing what was good for them, saturated with propaganda and the character assassination of a political leader they know and love, and - perhaps the final insult - enticed with cash and lucrative contracts to back a faction in the ANC.

Analysts and journalists now marvel at Zuma's spectacular "political comeback" as if it is some arcane phenomenon. But in the ANC, it was obvious years ago that Zuma had the pedigree and qualities for high office - which is why his steady progression through the ranks rattled the cages of his political rivals. However, Zuma's path to the ANC Presidency opened the moment the political crusade against him began.

Had the National Prosecuting Authority and its political masters not run their malicious two pronged media-prosecutorial operation against Zuma, the Polokwane revolt would probably not have happened. And had Zuma not been tormented by state agencies, and tried and ridiculed in the court of public opinion, the delegates would not have arrived at the University of Limpopo with such grit. While Zuma was destined to be president, the showdown could have been avoided.

Throughout Zuma's seven-year persecution, ordinary ANC members watched and waited. The media and his persecutors truly believed that the simulated release of damaging information about Zuma during the course of the NPA's investigation into him, the Schabir Shaik trial, the rape trial and the run up to the ANC's 52nd National Conference was sufficient to relegate him to the political wilderness. It is clear now that the ANC rank and file never fell for the disinformation campaign. The "hoax-email" saga, the Special Browse report, the conduct of state agencies and the media's persistent taunting of Zuma instead helped convince them that something untoward was going on.

The moment came this week for ANC members to give vent to the build-up of anger. The former ANC leadership and national executive, whose wholly inadequate response at best and acquiescence at worst, in the suspected conspiracy against Zuma, proved fatal.

The ANC Youth League, Cosatu, the South African Communist Party and the Young Communist League are widely credited as the front-line of Zuma's presidential campaign, but his detractors have only themselves to blame for their political castration this week.

Now, as part of their salvage operation, they persist with Zuma-gevaar stories about possible purges in government, somersaults in economic policy, a revenge mission against those who crossed him and a payback windfall for his supporters. They say Zuma can now swing his axe because of the tremendous power he wields as ANC president.

What many fail to realise is that Zuma was an extremely powerful man, rooted in the masses, even before he became the ANC's leader. He need not have waited to be president to hit back against those who engineered his misfortunes. When former ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota persistently needled him over the past few months, Zuma ignored him. When his colleagues in the NEC and some in the Women's League wove a negative campaign claiming he had backward views on gender issues and would unravel advances made on this front, he remained silent and swallowed the abuse.

This is because Zuma is not a vindictive man and always places the interests of the ANC above his own. Anyone who watched his expressions during the conference would have been able to tell that he was distressed by the convulsions in the ANC. He did not enjoy or revel in the humiliation of those opposed to his presidency. Only those who understand his character know that this was not how he would have wanted it to turn out.

But Zuma is now president because ANC members trust that he can heal and unify their organisation even though he too is still hurting. He has earned his stripes in the ANC as its foremost peacemaker and unifier, and the members now look to him to lead the organisation out of the morass.

The ANC will soon pick itself up from the dirt, dust itself off and set off on a new journey under the new leadership core. With any transition comes a degree of uncertainty. But the uncertainty over the ANC and South Africa's political future has been escalated due to the nature and negativity of the campaign against Zuma in the lead up to the ANC conference.

In the next few weeks, the new leadership collective will reveal roadmarkers as it charts the way ahead. Zuma and his team face a formidable challenge to steer the ANC from the pains of Polokwane. But they are acutely aware that the days of ANC members meekly following wherever they are led are long gone. Expectations on the new leadership are substantial, but also delegates have sent a clear message that the ANC is theirs. The new leadership will therefore be careful to avoid the same fate of those who went before them.

* Ranjeni Munusamy is a communications consultant and runs the Friends of Jacob Zuma website

With acknowledgements to the Friends of Jacob Zuma website.


He was still hurting as at 22 December 2007?