For leaders who betray their offices and the sit-tight ones who refuse to quit when the ovasion is loudest, the forced resignation of Comrade Jacob Gedleyihlesika Zuma as South Africa President, last week, should serve as a useful lesson.
After a long period of intrigues, political maneuvering and sheer obstinacy, Zuma finally bit the dust. He succumbed to the order of his party, the African National Congress (ANC) that asked him to step down following series of corruption charges against him.
Zuma stepped down for his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who will be in charge until 2019 when fresh elections will be conducted, to take over. Ramaphosa, 65, was elected the leader of the ruling ANC in December last year.
The former President’s ouster did not happen overnight. Zuma, whose tenure was characterised by scandals, ranging from sex, corruption and power drunkenness, is facing a 783 count charge of corruption, including complicity in over 30 billion Rands government’s arms deal.
Before his fall last week, Zuma had survived several banana peels, including no confidence votes. That he eventually fell was not much unexpected, given the avalanche of controversies that mired his nine year – turbulent rule.
By his exit, Zuma joined the inglorious list of leaders like Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Samuel Doe of Liberia and Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire, among others, who fell to disgrace.
The Zuma experience is yet another slap on the integrity of African leaders and political elite, who have shown over time that staying true and loyal to their oath of office is a herculean task, if not a taboo. Even the ANC and the South African people, who toiled over the years under apartheid, would take some time to get over the disgrace.
It is regrettable that at this time in African democracy, corruption and misrule have remained endemic in the continent. Public office is seen and run as personal estate, political and leadership rascality become the order of the day, so much so that the people suffer while their leadership selfishly play to the gallery.
The Tide cannot agree less with the decision and action of the ANC in ending the ‘cursed’ tenure of Zuma. Though the decision may have come a bit late to spare the blushes of the party, it is better late than never. While it may take some time for the party to recover from the blows suffered as a result of Zuma’s indiscretions, the onus lies on President Ramaphosa to work toward redeeming ANC’s battered image.
For the rest of Africa, it is time to borrow a leaf from the actions of the ANC. We believe that party supremacy is key in all democracies and that leaders must be called to order or thrown out by their parties when they become corrupt, unpopular or a liability.
The South African example is rare in the continent and therefore deserves commendation. Indeed, the ANC’s action throws up patriotism and national interest, which are two key factors in nation building. We, therefore, urge political parties in Africa to emulate ANC by entrenching internal democracy and supremacy of the party mechanisms in their practice. African politicians must rise above ethnicity, religion, partisanship and other primordial sentiments if the continent must be on the path of positive development as in other climes.
Worthy of emulation, particularly by Nigeria, is the absence of tribal, religious or sectional sentiments in debates and decisions that led to Zuma’s removal. Leaders should be judged purely on performance and not on the basis of religion, ethnicity or even partisan politics.
For African leaders who fail to know when they have run out of goodwill of the electorate, Zuma’s ouster is a classic example that no one man can be bigger than his people and country.
While we join the international community to congratulate ANC and South Africa for taking the bull by the horn, we hope that Zuma will be made to face the law, just as other African leaders learn from his intransigence and disgraceful exit.