Jacob Zuma signing off
Jacob Zuma did not wait for the deadline of Wednesday midnight. He left two hours before the deadline. It must have become clear to him that he had lost it at last. The ANC and the people of South Africa deserve a big congratulations for democratically forcing him out into the cold. When the last December conference of the party did not produce a homogeneous executive, it was feared that getting Jacob Zuma out of the way before next year would be difficult. From what has happened, it appears the ANC ideologues and cadres came to the conclusion that Zuma’s continued stay is no worth the party’s division anymore. The terms of the settlement are not known yet but it is assumed that he would have time to account for his stewardship now.
In the next few hours, the ANC would re-arrange the table. New names would re-appear. But that would be the traditional musical chair. Beyond that, what would follow, something like a re-framing of South Africa in the category of the Renaissance stuff, a grand paradigm.
It is understood that “Did you watch Ramaphosa in Davos?” was a sort of refrain in the aftermath of Cyril Ramaphosa’s appearance at this year’s World Economic Forum. It is not clear now what he actually said there in the realm of a grand paradigm. It might be his qualification or aptness for this moment that people are still celebrating. The hope is that it won’t take long before a paradigm emerges. Without a paradigm, no leader can strike the chord. Or, better still, no leader can hit it off on the popular side of history.
