Effects of removing Zuma from presidency
It is interesting to look at this impeachment calls with an eye on strategic maneuvering. How will this affect each party?
Politics is a game of never-ending manoeuvres.
In light of recent Constitutional Court ruling that President Zuma must repay non security-related expenses incurred by government when he refurbished his Nkandla homestead and that the National Assembly acted unconstitutionally when handling this matter, now opposition parties are calling for his resignation.
It is interesting to look at this impeachment calls with an eye on strategic manoeuvring. How will this affect each party? I will look at the effect on the ANC, DA and EFF. Every action is followed by a reaction. Every political move can be analysed to predict its outcome.
ANC
The ANC should urgently look at removing Jacob Zuma from its helm.
Public confidence on the ANC has not changed much but on Zuma, confidence is very low. Even ANC diehards cannot defend him. This is one man who is regarded by all as a person who is interested in self-enrichment and nothing more.
Recent media onslaught on his family involvement with the Guptas and their treacherous running of state departments has left a bitter taste for many South Africans. The ANC is finding itself at odds to defend all these allegations.
Effect of removing Zuma from office will result in ANC recovering from low confidence among its supporters to a revived verve. Then the ANC might retain its lead on the 2016 local government elections. It might still retain control of critical cities such as Tshwane. It must be remembered that the ANC support base is not easily affected by the ups and downs of politics because it is mainly based on sentiment.
DA
The DA should not demand the removal of Zuma until after the elections.
The situation of having Zuma as president will work well for the DA as more people are infuriated and would want a way of punishing the ANC.
There is a lot of undecided middle-class voters who are still harboring on sentiment. Naturally their first choice would be to support the ANC for historical reasons, but these are literate people who are also critical. Their alternative most likely will be the DA in the enlightened society and EFF in the lesser literate class.
Most black voters will seek an alternative party to vote for or simply abstain from voting, which also gives opposition parties an extra winning edge. The DA will have an advantage in the 2016 elections if Zuma remains president of South Africa.
EFF
The EFF stands in a unique position in the sense that removal or non-removal of Zuma will be beneficial to its position in the 2016 elections.
If Zuma is removed, the EFF will only benefit if they can make a lot of noise about their great accomplishment of removing a corrupt president. This move will endear them to the voters. If Zuma is not removed, the EFF will benefit like the DA from disgruntled public. Though it has more leverage of attracting most black votes especially from the poorer people.
