As a president with a penchant for foreign policy, Thabo Mbeki probably envisaged that his toughest speeches, his defining moments, would come as he spoke at the podium of the United Nations or on the panels of the G8. Instead, his defining moment, his toughest speech, came in Cape Town this week in Parliament.
His eyes looked grave, his hands trembled, his loftiness was gone as he announced that deputy president Jacob Zuma had been relieved of his duties. Mbeki stared down his party when he made that decision: he faced opposition to the move from the youth, the parliamentary caucus, the women’s league as well as several provinces.
No doubt Mbeki was acting to protect his legacy and standing on the global stage and no doubt Zuma was not his chosen successor, but it was not an easy speech to make and it has left a clear message that -corruption in high office will not be tolerated. The statesman won over the party man.
Mbeki did not try to fudge his responsibility for the dismissal — indeed, he insisted on his executive right to act decisively. His speech in Parliament marked a clear break from the government’s perverse practice of refusing to do what the media urges, as a way of showing who is boss. It showed a far-sighted sensitivity to South Africa’s reputation in a -globalising world.
And through it, the president rededicated his administration to certain basic democratic norms: that no one is too high for censure; that the judiciary must be respected, however much one may disagree with its decisions; and that the use of public office for private gain must be rooted out as a grave threat to the general good. With the assault on the judiciary by the African National Congress Youth League and the ruling party’s union and communist allies after the Shaik judgement, with the laws planned to alter the way the judiciary is administered, and the crippling of Parliament’s oversight role during the arms deal -investigation, the ruling party has often shown that its commitment to the instruments of democracy is ephemeral. This week’s speech goes a long way to affirming the power of the separation of powers.
We hope the -sacking also marks an end to the ANC’s often evasive and equivocal attitude to financial malfeasance in its ranks. One positive sign that we, in particular, will be looking for is a genuine government move to confront the concerns raised by the “Oilgate” scandal; it is also extremely good news that the MP’s implicated in Travelgate will be sacked.
Of course, one should not lose sight of the damage caused to our public morality and public institutions by the arms deal, and of Mbeki’s responsibility for some of it. It may continue to surface like hidden infection in a closed wound.
It is conceivable, though unlikely, given his disabilities as a man outside government, that Zuma will stage a comeback in the two years before the ANC’s next national conference. While acknowledging his many sterling qualities, we would not welcome this. In the Presidency, above all, South Africa needs a leader completely untainted by scandal and of proven administrative competence. In addition, Zuma has not recently acquitted himself with much honour. Despite repeatedly demanding a trial to give his side of the Shaik saga, he has sidestepped the simple -expedient of calling a media conference to give his version of events. And he is a hypocrite, claiming to have resigned his parliamentary seat “to make it easier for the government and the ANC to function”. If these are his real concerns, why did he not resign as deputy president, rather than forcing Mbeki to fire him? Isn’t his real motive the knowledge that he faces a parliamentary ethics inquiry?
We hope that over the next two years a range of inspiring candidates will throw their hats into the ring. As the American example clearly illustrates, democracy is not served by the absence of real choice.
Not quite cream of the crop
Forget everything the politicians told you on Thursday, as is tradition on Youth Day. The affairs of young people are in a parlous state.
And while the nation is obsessed with the presidential succession in 2009, we point to a far more ominous sign on the horizon. Tradition can be a scary thing, especially when it concerns African National Congress politics.
For it could mean that the youth leader of the ANC goes on to become leader of the party and possibly of the state. It means we could have a President Fikile Mbalula, heaven forbid. For it was the cantankerous Mbalula who led the lobby attempting to forestall the demise of Jacob Zuma.
By the time the dice fell this week, he meekly said he supported the -decision. A few days earlier Mbalula declared that if he turned on the charm, -“billions” would take to the streets to support Zuma’s march to the Presidency. We can only blame the proliferation of cheap Chinese imports for Mbalula’s impression that we have become one with the land of the dragons and kung fu and also passed the billion people mark. So now we know Mbalula spouts nonsense and can’t count. Quite the qualities required in a future president.
The ANC is not alone in attracting not-quite-cream-of-the-crop young leaders. This week, the Democratic Alliance lost seven provincial leaders to the ANC.
No great wonder kwaito star Brown Dash is embarrassed by the state of today’s youth. He recently bemoaned the fact that unlike in his previous life as a car thief, today’s miscreants — hijackers — lack ubuntu because they subject their victims to the trauma of facing a barrel of a gun. George Bernard Shaw, the ultimate party pooper, had a point when he observed: “Ah, youth is wasted on the young”.
Except, as happened this week, when they produced Africa’s best read. Staff under the age of 35 produced and edited this edition of the Mail & Guardian in honour of Youth Day. We think we’ve done a fine job.