ANC must own their ‘Jacob Zuma mistake’

If the ANC leaders were to be honest to themselves and to SA, they should have accepted that the election of Jacob Zuma as ANC president in Polokwane was the biggest mistake they ever made.

It was so clear – but they did not want to hear from those who foresaw it, such as Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa Lekota.

The ANC’s honesty should start with coming forward and humbling themselves to Lekota – ANC national chair before Polokwane – and say “comrades, you were so right, we were so wrong, we are sorry for not believing you, can we talk”.

Then, newly elected ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe even ignored Lekota’s open letter alerting the ANC to the danger the movement faced due to Zuma’s rise into power, including the risk it posed to the country’s constitution and the rule of law.

Today, their hero is a constitutional delinquent who undermines all judicial processes and institutions of democracy – far from the Freedom Charter’s notion of “equality before the law” – something Lekota alerted ANC to.

You could understand why they did not listen to Lekota. Zuma’s election was the greatest thing yet to happen to those who supported him.

Some even called it an “unstoppable tsunami” and others publicly declared their willingness to die for the individual (not the ANC).

The Zumaphoria was so hyped it divided society, with even the media separating into those for and those against him. Senior journalists published daily praise-singing of the new president.

At a daily newspaper I worked for at the time, two journalists celebrated and performed the Zulu indlamu dance in the newsroom when Zuma was acquitted of the rape charges against alleged victim “Khwezi”.

It was a sad moment for women’s rights with the ANC Women’s League siding with the alleged attacker. I was one of the few journalists who wrote that Zuma was not a presidential material at all.

These days, I often go back to my articles of 2008 and smile while murmuring my adapted motto: “truth lasts, lies have short live span”.

But The Citizen, then even, was one of the few that identified trouble with this man – even exposing some strange happenings around the death of his wife and other issues.

When Lekota served “divorce papers” on the ANC, sitting in a briefing in Sandton alongside Mluleki George and Willie Madisha in 2008, he was vilified by the Polokwane crowd.

But today, their Polokwane hero has become a threat to the rule of law, which Lekota highlighted.

The real heroes are Julius Malema and Zwelinzima Vavi, who came forward and apologised to Thabo Mbeki for believing the lies about him. It should not end here.

The entire ANC leadership should do the same, not just to Mbeki but also Lekota. Today, Mbeki is the most revered ANC leader since Mandela – getting invited to address important local, international and university gatherings.

The ANC should concede they erred about giving South Africa a Zuma and that they are willing to redeem themselves.

This week, respected journalist, columnist and top communicator Oupa Ngwenya wrote: “Failure to learn from history makes the world a dangerous place.”

Let the ANC not be caught up in the history Oupa talks about, lest it be consigned to the dustbin of the same.

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