Former president Jacob Zuma in court on Monday. Photo: Sakhiseni Nxumalo
Despite a commitment to a renewal drive and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise of “a new dawn”, no ANC leader would dare ruffle feathers in the runup to the party’s December national elective conference by reprimanding former leader Jacob Zuma for controversial public remarks he made three days ago, political analysts said yesterday.
Against the backdrop of more than 350 people killed, nearly two million people left unemployed and more than R50 billion damage to the economy, according to Ramaphosa at the South African Human Rights Commission in April this year, Zuma thanked his supporters on Monday for staging the massive uprising to show support for him last July.
After being sentenced for contempt by the Constitutional Court on 29 June for refusing to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, Zuma was jailed on 7 July.
Two days later, riots broke out in KwaZulu-Natal and quickly spread to Gauteng. Commenting on Zuma’s outburst and the ANC’s silence, independent political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga said it was “concerning to see last year’s riot being reduced to a political football”.
“The reality that people lost lives should get us worried in ensuring that justice prevails. This gives the impression that politics triumphs over justice,” said Mathekga.
On whether the ANC renewal and Ramaphosa’s “new dawn” had propelled the party to be seen as leader of society, Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast of the department of history and political studies at Nelson Mandela University, said: “The ANC has already been dealt a blow in terms of electoral performance, having lost metros in the last local government polls.
“The problem with ANC leaders is that they don’t want to let go of political power. If you don’t have proximity to power, you don’t have protection against prosecution.
“It is an open secret that the party is divided into two camps – the soft and the hardliners, with Zuma seen as the founding father of the [radical economic transformation faction]. Zuma has re-emerged as the untouchable by saying whatever he wants to say – showing the middle finger to everyone.
“They don’t want to respond to this in the build-up to the upcoming national conference, because that can escalate the conflict.
“The ANC has always been found wanting on a political response to this, because this is a delicate situation, with the bureaucracy also divided.
No wonder that unrest broke out, with some of the security officers not responding to that crisis in the manner they should have.”
University of SA political science professor Dirk Kotzé said it was the ANC’s strategy to ignore Zuma and keep him on the margins.
“The ANC does not want to give him any attention, because they want to prevent him making a political comeback.
“They are aware that as soon as they respond to his remarks, it will develop into a public debate in which Zuma will be one of the key figures, which he wants to be.
“By keeping quiet, the ANC is trying to keep the oxygen away from him,” said Kotzé. “It is a political tactic.”
University of Pretoria politics lecturer Roland Henwood said: “Within the ANC there seems to be an inability to come to terms with what Zuma as leader of the ANC embodies.
“There is lack of political will and decisiveness to deal with him, causing huge damage to the party.”
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