Publication: Independent on Saturday Issued: Date: 2005-11-12 Reporter: Jeremy Gordin

Why the Nation is Agog with Zuma

 

Publication 

Independent on Saturday

Date

2005-11-12

Reporter

 Jeremy Gordin

Web Link

 www.tios.co.za

 

So much more than a corruption trial

As you, our reader, settle down this morning to read this article, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is appearing in the Durban Regional Court to have his case referred to the High Court on July 31.

The former deputy president of South Africa has been charged with corruption, along with two subsidiary companies of the French arms giant Thales. They are Thint Holding (Southern Africa) (Pty) Ltd and Thint (Pty) Ltd.

Thint, the second one, is 80% owned by the first and 20% owned by Nkobi Holdings, which was formerly managed (and owned) by Durban entrepreneur Schabir Shaik and is now administered by his brother, Mo.

Earlier this year Schabir was sentenced to 15 years' jail for corruption and fraud. The main finding made against him by Judge Hilary Squires was that Shaik had been involved in a generally corrupt relationship with Zuma.

This means, to put it simply, that Shaik used Zuma's influence (and sometimes his name) to get what he, Shaik, wanted. In return, Zuma was paid by Shaik. Perhaps needless to point out, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spent a great deal of time during Shaik's trial proving that Zuma badly needed money.

Now, just as it takes two to tango, it takes at least two to be in a relationship, corrupt or otherwise. So, following the Squires judgment, the NPA seemed to have little choice but to charge Zuma and, as might be expected, the provisional indictment against the former deputy president, made public last Friday, is a mirror of the one Shaik faced.

Newspapers and the rest of the media have been publishing a plethora of articles every day, speculating about and analysing every aspect of the story under the sun - and even aspects that seem to emanate from outer space. Will President Thabo Mbeki be called to give evidence? Will the state and Zuma cut a deal (known as a plea bargain)?

What are you and I to make of all this sound and fury?

Given that we know the ostensible reason for Zuma's forthcoming trial - that he was involved in corruption - what is the underlying story of Zuma and his legal travails? Why is everyone so taken with it?

An apt symbol for Zuma's story is, if you think about it, the Russian doll known as a Matryoshka - a wooden model of a girl, which may be pulled apart to reveal another (but slightly smaller) figure of the same sort inside. It has in turn another figure inside it, and so on.

In other words, the Zuma story may appear to be about one thing only - for example, corruption in connection with the arms deal. But, as soon as you start examining one facet of the story, it opens up into another, and so on. And, as you journey still deeper into the story, it grows even more complex.

Let's start with this: Zuma was not only the deputy president of the country, he remains the deputy president of the ANC. If previous history is our guide, Zuma was set, until this trial raised its ugly head, to be our next president. In other words, he is a critically important person.

This introduces us to one of our other dolls: the left wing of President Thabo Mbeki's own party, as well as the leadership (if not the general membership) of his alliance partners, the trade union movement and the communist party.

Remote

They say the country's economic policies - in the formulation of which Mbeki is said to have been pivotal - do not favour the poor and dispossessed. Mbeki's detractors also criticise his management style.

They say he is remote, that he lives both as a person and a leader on Mount Olympus and not in Diepsloot or KwaMashu. Worst of all, some have said that Mbeki is Machiavellian; that he does not wish to have Zuma as his successor and that Zuma's trial is the fruit of a plot hatched in very high places.

They argue, on the other hand, however, that Zuma is a man of the people - he comes from humble origins, not the ANC/Xhosa aristocracy like you-know-who-did time on Robben Island, and understands the poor in, as it were, his blood.

Consequently the pro-Zuma camp has decided to make the Zuma issue into something larger than a mere corruption trial - into the battle over succession, economics, and slices of the pie for those who have not had any of it yet.

This is why passions run high over Zuma, why so many people are agog with the matter. This is why the possibility that the president may be called to give an account of himself, or the possibility that the state may do whatever it can to avoid a trial (by agreeing on a plea bargain) are such rivetting issues.

The next doll that comes into view relates to our history.

The arms deal - the buying of billions of rands worth of armaments, including corvettes, fighter planes and frigates - was set up not long after South Africa became a democratic country. Whether it was strictly necessary is a separate debate. Certainly, however, it was felt by those now in power that the new South Africa required a "new", impressive and representative defence force.

And nearly all those involved in the arms deal, as well as in numerous other initiatives that would be positive for the nation, but would also make a great deal of money for those in the proverbial pound seats (that's the way capitalism works), were former comrades.

They had fought together and were deeply loyal to one another. Loyalty had been a part of their lives on which their survival often depended.

But their commitment to one another collided with the necessary rules of governance of a modern democratic state - especially a country that had to take a clear stand against corruption.

Most people, however, were not caught out by the collision between the two forces. *1 Shaik was. Zuma may turn out to have been nabbed as well.

The bitterness in the breasts of many, including probably Zuma, is about all those who also collected very handsomely and are walking around smiling and talking about the rule of law.

With acknowledgements to Jeremy Gordin and the Independent on Saturday.


*1  It all depends into what they collided.

The seeds of the wind were greed and now They and Thint are reaping the whirlwind.

They were warned - it didn't have to happen this way.

A lot are lucky to get away, but resources are finite.