It may have been entertaining
watching opposition parties line up in parliament to take well-argued and extremely
well-aimed pot-shots at President Zuma and the ANC, but behind the theme of all
the attacks was their acknowledgement that the efforts to impeach the President
were doomed to failure. In an editorial
comment the following day Alec Hogg[1]
of Biznews perceptively highlights that the “ANC will Dump Zuma – but only in
its own good time”.
It is widely recognised, even
within the organisation, that Jacob Zuma has become a liability to the ANC. The
longer he stays at the helm the more advantageous it is for opposition parties
in the upcoming local government elections. President Zuma’s demise was, and
remains inevitable, so why was the opposition so hasty in calling for an
impeachment debate?
It beggars belief that the DA and
EFF suddenly discovered altruistic streaks in their self-serving political
agendas large enough for them to willingly give up this gem of an advantage. Were
they really sincerely concerned that the ANC will take too long to do the right
thing, or more concerned that the ANC will do the right thing too soon, before
they, the main opposition, are able to milk it to their ultimate advantage?
As I suspect that the majority of
politicians have altruism erased from their persona at birth, I lean towards the
self-serving motive. The most effective ways to drive the ANC into laager and ensure
that Jacob Zuma stays in place is to challenge the ANC to recall him, or to try
to obtain his removal through the parliamentary impeachment process.
It is too generous to assume that
the ANC were about to imminently dump Zuma, as he still enjoys considerable
support within the organisation, but by openly challenging the ANC, the
opposition have now made it a cast iron certainty that he cannot be dumped any
time soon.
So, political advantage has been
gained by the opposition, but at what cost to the country? The impeachment
process was really nothing more than the opposition contributing towards what
Standard and Poor’s Konrad Reuss describes as “political noise” that will
almost certainly have a negative effect on our sovereign credit rating.
Having started the whole debacle,
the ANC are not blameless in escalating the political cacophony. They turned up
the volume themselves on Friday when first President Zuma, and then Secretary General
Gwede Mantashe failed quite spectacularly to accept any responsibility, or
pronounce upon any consequences stemming from the Constitutional Court
judgement. Tuesday’s predictable outcome
of the impeachment process just ramped up the volume of political noise even further,
bringing us ever closer to junk status.
Sadly, and because of this, the EFF
& DA are about to turn their Constitutional Court triumph for our democracy
and democratic institutions into a facile and pyrrhic victory for politicians. In
the 1980’s, British humourist John Cleese produced a 4-part series of corporate
training videos entitled “So you want to be a success at selling? In part 4 “Closing the Sale” one of the
strongest messages was that when you have made the sale, stop talking before
you say something that makes your customer rethink their decision. The EFF and DA had made their sale at the
Constitutional Court, but they haven’t yet stopped talking.
What this circus really tells us,
though, is that none of our politicians puts the country first. They are all so
wrapped up in scoring political points in their all-consuming quest for power, that
they have lost sight of their true purpose. Their true purpose is not only to
uphold and defend the Constitution, but also to always act in the best
interests of the country and its people.
In this, they have failed us miserably.
It most certainly was not in the
best interests of the country and its people to push us closer to the potential
hardship that will result from junk status, but in true political style they
carried on playing the game, even though they had long ago dropped the ball.
The only thing that will make a difference to
all these dishonourable “Honourables” is a change in the electoral system, the
need for which is now dire.
