The other week, with barely seven months to the constitutional end to his second term, Thabo Mbeki was forced by and from within his own party, ANC, to resign from the high office of President of South Africa, one of Africa's economic and political powerhouses. There is something really rotten and unbecoming about the process that led to his departure, barely a week after Zuma won his corruption case in court, and South Africa is the poorer for it.
This is not to say that Mbeki did not make any, indeed big, mistakes while in office; or that he did not display in just too many instances a weakness of leadership by way of indecisiveness, plain bad judgement and a failure to inspire in consequential ways. It is even plausible that he had slyly sought to encumber and destroy Zuma politically -- and perhaps personally. Still, he was the country's president; and it was important for Zuma to realize that how one handled such factualities could have far-reaching and long-lasting repercussions on a country's political culture. The burden of statesmanship here, after Zuma's court victory (which essentially ensured that he would be South Africa's next president next April), was on Zuma himself -- far less on Mbeki, who was already and clearly a lame duck. To the victor sometimes, as here, go spoils which are not worth the trouble.
Zuma flunked the test, and dragged South Africa down with him into a gutter in which such a country, with so much promise, need not be. Mbeki's ouster displayed a disturbing sense of vengefulness, and myopic disregard for the inclusiveness and "above-the-fray" demeanour of South Africa's recent political (and, in particular, presidential) history -- that is, since 1990.
Mandela succeeded De Klerk (fellow Nobel laureate) in a peaceful and organized transition to become South Africa's president in 1994. He chose not to seek a second term in 1998, to the great admiration of all around the world. With his blessing, Mbeki succeeded him in the elections held that same year, although many would have preferred the trade unionist and (increasingly?)self-made Ramaphosa. However, with the end of Mbeki's term in plain sight, a coup -- a political coup, a palace coup clearly engineered or endorsed by none other than Zuma!
Zuma seems "programmed" to think small, and that spells trouble for South Africa -- and perhaps Africa. His thinking, it seems to me, emanates from the same source(s) as the xenophobic orgy which gripped South Africa less than a couple of months ago. Can he be helped out of this dance with danger?
