Durban - Former president Jacob Zuma’s making himself available for the ANC’s national chairperson position at the party’s 55th national conference in December is an ill-advised move, say political analysts.
Last week Zuma confirmed he had been approached by “a number of cadres” to make himself available, with a view to his contributing to the rebuilding of the ANC and providing direction to the party.
“I have indicated that I will be guided by the branches of the ANC and that I will not refuse such a call should they deem it necessary for me to serve the organisation again at that level or any other,” Zuma said.
However, the move has been met with scepticism in some quarters with ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe saying Zuma’s making himself available was the “biggest joke of the year”. Zuma is out of prison on medical parole and faces a litany of corruption charges.
Professor Bheki Mngomezulu, a political analyst from the University of the Western Cape, said the former head of state should not pursue the national chairperson position for various reasons, including the fact that he faced court cases, whether they were credible or not. Zuma is facing corruption allegations relating to the arms deal of the late 1990s. He is accused of having received kickbacks in the procurement process when he was a KwaZulu-Natal MEC.
Among the bribes Zuma is alleged to have received is a R500 000 annual retainer paid by French arms manufacturer Thales through his then financial adviser Schabir Schaik, whose Nkobi Holdings was a BEE partner of Thales in the deal.
Zuma has throughout the years maintained his innocence. Mngomezulu said if Zuma were nominated, accepted the nomination, and emerged victorious at the much-anticipated national conference, the party would move to invoke the step-aside resolution, which would bar him from occupying the position.
“There are also other complications because he is currently out on parole, and if he is nominated and accepts the nomination, people will start asking whether the parole was warranted.
“Let alone the fact that the former president has done a sterling job for this country, it wouldn’t be right for him to come back to active politics at this point because that would dent his image, and all the gains he has made would fall by the wayside, so I wouldn’t advise him to do it,” Mngomezulu said. He also rubbished the view that Zuma was attempting to get back into a position of power to protect himself against his legal troubles.
“Whether you’re the president or (the) chairperson of the ANC, it doesn’t really matter, because if there is something untoward that you are implicated in, the law enforcement agencies will still attend to that. “Unless people are looking at that issue and comparing (it) to the Phala Phala matter, which has taken ages to be attended to, if they are looking at it from that angle, then they might have something to work with.
But, generally speaking, it’s a position that should not matter if the law enforcement agencies are doing their jobs,” Mngomezulu said. Dr Fikile Vilakazi, a political analyst from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said Zuma had not been unanimously supported by the ANC, except for the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.
Vilakazi said Zuma’s raising his hand for the position of chairperson could be him saying that, if the movement was not prepared to protect him under the ANC leadership, he was prepared to go back and do it through this position.
“This could be a way of regaining his power, politically, to be able to perhaps even use that angle in fighting for his dignity and his name. It’s also something about power – it’s a game of power, and everybody wants to make a contribution. He has tasted it – he has felt it,” Vilakazi said.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE