Monday 31 October 2016

Last tango in Pretoria?


South African President Jacob Zuma loves to dance.

He has certainly led the country and the governing ANC a merry dance, playing footloose and fancy free with the country’s hard-won constitution.



Fired by Thabo Mbeki from his role as deputy president in 2007 when facing corruption charges, Zuma’s legal quickstep saw him elected ANC President, the prosecution against him dropped on a flimsy technicality and Mbeki ousted as president, all preparing the way for Zuma to take the floor after the 2009 election.



Steps were quickly taken to ensure that the institutions of state danced to Zuma’s tune – the Scorpions investigative unit (which brought the corruption charges against him) was disbanded, Zuma allies were placed into key roles such as the head of the National Prosecuting Authority (which promptly dropped all charges against him), government contracts were awarded to Zuma-linked companies, his private homestead at Nkandla was enriched using taxpayers money and privileges were granted to his friends in the Gupta family, who even used a South African Air Force base to land their private plane for a wedding.



Through scandals of corruption, maladministration and even sex, Zuma sidestepped the blame and waltzed cheerfully onwards as if nothing had happened.



Only two state institutions refused to get into step with the twinkle-toed president: The Treasury and the Public Protector.  Both have been in a long dance-off with Zuma which was due to reach its crescendo this week in two high-profile court cases.



When Zuma appointed Advocate Thuli Madonsela to the ombudsman role of Public Protector seven years ago, she was largely unheard of and not thought to present much of a risk to his plans.



Nothing could have turned out further from the truth.  Madonsela ruthlessly investigated cases against Zuma brought to her and was not afraid to stand up to the machinery of government in issuing her findings.



In one of the most publicised cases, her Secure in Comfort report revealed the spending of millions of rand on building a swimming pool, amphitheatre, chicken coup, cattle kraal and visitors’ centre at his private home in Nkandla – all billed to the taxpayer as ‘security upgrades’.  She ordered that Zuma should pay back a fitting proportion of the money, and so began a legal battle as dramatic and passionate as an Argentine Tango.



In a landmark judgement, the Constitutional Court ruled that Madonsela’s findings were binding, and that the President and parliament had violated the constitution by not carrying out her remedial actions.



As Madonsela’s term of office drew to a close in October, she found herself in another legal battle with Jacob Zuma.  On her final day in the job, she was due to release her findings into allegations of ‘state capture’ brought about when Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas and MP Vytjie Mentor revealed that they had been offered cabinet promotions by members of the Gupta family. 



Just hours before Madonsela was due to release the report, Zuma launched a court bid to interdict the report, claiming he did not have enough time to respond to her findings.  The case will be heard on November 1st, with Madonsela’s (Zuma-appointed) successor Busisiwe Mkwebane already saying she will not oppose his bid to block the report.  Minister Des van Rooyen also made a bid to block it, withdrew it and reinstated it again today.  His favoured dance is clearly the hokey-cokey – in, out, in out…



The following day, November 2nd, the Pretoria Regional Court was due to hear charges of fraud brought against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.



Gordhan was not Zuma’s choice for Finance Minister and is somewhat of a thorn in the side.  There have long been tensions between the treasury and the presidency, as the former tried to keep check on the excesses of the latter.  This led to Zuma spontaneously firing respected Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene in December last year, to replace him with a more pliable dance partner in the form of Des van Rooyen.



The ANC leadership, however, smelt a rat as the value of the rand plunged, and forced Zuma into replacing van Rooyen just three days later with safe pair of hands Pravin Gordhan.  Since then, Zuma has had every organ of state looking for a way to remove Gordhan from his position.



The best they came up with is an allegation that Gordhan committed fraud during his time at the South African Revenue Service by authorising the early retirement of a commissioner.  The charges against Gordhan were clearly politically motivated, and were withdrawn at the last moment by National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams who clearly finds the heat of the dancefloor too much.



This week sees a political Paso Doble played out in the courts.  The rulings will determine whether or not South Africa’s constitutional democracy and rule of law stand firm.



Could this be Zuma’s last waltz?  Or will he be allowed to continue his jolly jig all the way to the bank?

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