Zondo vs Zuma, Cyril vs Ace – the battle to control the narrative

“Play it in the press” – a tactic used in the legal sphere to such success that a play turned musical was created with it as a plot device as early as 1926.

Even if you’re found guilty, you may move the national discussion to such a point that things could be overturned and you’ll land up on top. Nelson Mandela went from “terrorist” to icon, in part, due to a shift in narrative. Granted, it took a couple of decades but it goes to show how powerful narratives are in the political sphere.

All over the world, political players pump massive resources into winning the people over to their side and the gamble, while risky, can yield incredible benefits. Remember how Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were once friends of the west, until…

In South Africa, we’ve been playing this game so long it’s become stale.

The refrain of white monopoly capital is thrown around as the master key in questioning the legitimacy of… well, anything. And the requirement to be critical of it goes out the window, as we outsource the role to most conveniently framed buzzword: racist, incompetent, corrupt and the latest, compliments of the Shepherd himself, “extortion”.

But this has been something I’ve long feared. For the most part, while all this has been playing out, the judiciary has largely been left out of it, until now.

The featherweight and opening battle is a fight for control of the ANC and, by extension, the executive of South Africa. Ace Magashule has mapped his war room around the idea that Cyril Ramaphosa is using his presidential power to abuse instruments of state to settle a political score.

READ MORE: Ace Magashule ‘welcomes’ charges, will be vindicated

It’s a genius ploy because it forces Cyril’s hand to either call off the attack or play into the narrative Ace has created.

The Ace faction has been growing, and if it reaches critical mass, Cyril could be left in a position where he has to lose political capital within the ANC to the benefit of the greater South Africa, or hold on to internal ANC power but allow Ace to roam free.

Only the decision isn’t really up to Cyril at all. It’s up to our prosecutors, so the president’s only play is really deciding whether he’s going to run interference or not.

Hopefully not, but the way it’s been framed, team Ace is acting as if Cyril has his hands on the ignition and is ready to fire to drive off political opposition.

If team Cyril had its wits about it, it would find a way to turn the notion that doing the right thing is still the right thing, despite the political benefits in its favour. After all, it’s not like Ace has never scored a political benefit ever.

But that’s just the taster. The heavyweight fight has more at stake. Zondo vs Zuma! The battle of legitimacy!

Joh! Can you imagine the ramifications if it were shown that the deputy chief justice has political interests that he allows to leak into his judicial decisions?

READ MORE: Zuma’s latest antics won’t deter Zondo

We should really be examining how easy it has become to simply dismiss the pursuit of justice as being unjust. It’s as if South Africa is suffering from a crisis of not knowing who or what to believe, or rather believing the most convenient thing for them.

If you’re a Zuma fan, it’s easy and convenient to believe that he’s being isolated and attacked, as he claims. If you’re not a Zuma fan, it’s easy to simply believe in his guilt, without waiting for the due process to complete its findings.

I mean, credit to Zondo for holding his ground and pushing the criminal charges, and to the prosecutors for pushing the fight against corruption, though it may be many years later but those who believe in the effectiveness of democratic state instruments will be pleased.

If the likes of Zuma and Ace are let off the hook, their fans would be pleased.

We don’t know how this will turn out yet but what we do know is that the state has been captured in some ways. How those ways will be left remembered now rests on who can do the better job capturing the narrative, so there’s all to fight for.

Don’t be surprised when the gloves come off.

Richard Anthony Chemaly, an entertainment attorney, radio broadcaster and lecturer of communication ethics.

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