Zuma delivers his terms of surrender

Cyril Ramaphosa has the ball in his court. Will our long-disgraced President Jacob Zuma be prematurely forced out of office or not? The real question is surely when this will happen and not if it will happen, and everybody wants answers.

Ramaphosa, though, respectful guy that he is, has stated that the ANC does not want to embarrass Zuma.

As if JZ isn’t well-equipped to do that all by himself, every single day.

As the new leader of the ANC, Ramaphosa has called the situation sensitive, and stressed the need for patience and caution. He further explained that people are too impatient and want to see everything done immediately. In politics, he continued, you need to take your time and make proper assessments. He claimed that the Jacob Zuma problem is not a matter to be dealt with immediately.

“I know that people are really inquisitive, they are eager to know how all of this is going to pan out. A lot of speculation has been going around – quite a bit of it is fuelled by people in the media,” he said.

“Whatever we do, we need to deal with this matter with the level of maturity it requires, with proper decorum. We should never do it in a way that is going to humiliate President Zuma. In a manner that is going to divide the nation. We need to do whatever we do very, very carefully. It is a very delicate matter.”

Ramaphosa pondering

After Ramaphosa narrowly trounced Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in the run for the ANC presidency last month, many expected him to recall JZ at the first available opportunity. So far, though, there has been no real mention of it.

A week ago, the City Press reported that those backing Ramaphosa want him to take over from Zuma as soon as possible. As the ANC President, they want him to deliver the State of the Nation address next month.

These rumours have been so good that we’ve even seen the Rand begin to strengthen. As if suddenly woken from a long hibernation. Investors have faith that Ramaphosa’s win will push through a number of business-friendly policies.

Clearly, Ramaphosa is still pondering his options. In no hurry whatsoever. His stance makes sense, though, as he remains beset on all sides by the corrupt and captured. The ANC’s main decision-making body is rotten, with many of Zuma’s cronies making it onto the National Executive Committee.

These include the likes of Gigaba, Maine, Mbalula and a bunch of other unsavoury, Zuma-sympathising characters.

Ramaphoza has vowed to clean up corruption, and certainly has his work cut out for him. There is a glimmer of hope, though. According to several ANC insiders, who recently spoke to the Mail & Guardian, Jacob Zuma is willing to step down as President of South Africa.

Of course, this is nowhere near as simple as it may sound.

Zuma gives us his terms of surrender

Zuma has reportedly set a number of conditions which will need to be fulfilled before he leaves the Union Buildings.

A number of ANC National Executive Committee members have confirmed these negotiations. They are aware of these conditions, but also feel that too much is being asked of Ramaphosa.

One of the key requirements would be that Zuma’s ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, will take over as our interim president.

We know. Cold shivers.

There is literally no end to the amount of damage this could do. Luckily for every human being in South Africa, Ramaphosa has allegedly outright rejected this insane idea. Instead, he has reportedly nominated Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, or National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete for the job.

That sounds much better. We can all breathe again.

He’s also demanded that some of his key cabinet appointments be retained in Ramaphosa’s new cabinet. These include Minister of Energy, David Mahlobo, and State Security Minister, Bongani Bongo. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why Zuma would want to ensure that these people remain in positions of power.

Mahlobo, for example, has insisted on implementing a nuclear programme which we simply can’t afford. To be run by people who can barely put their pants on the right way round.

And so, it seems that neither Ramaphosa nor Zuma will concede and the talks will no doubt end at an impasse. An NEC member had the following to say:

“At the moment, it’s a stalemate (on the conditions under which Zuma would agree to resign). So we will see where it ends up after the national working committee and heads of subcommittees are selected at the next NEC (meeting).”

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