So, the first and most important test of Jacob Zuma's character and leadership arrived just days after being elected president of the African National Congress (ANC) . There's to be no waiting to see how he behaves under pressure, no wondering what happens when he feels he may not be getting what he wants.

The multiple charges brought by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) against Zuma last Friday have been a long time in the making. Some might say too long. But they were inevitable. No clear-headed reading of the judgment against Schabir Shaik could have created any doubt that Zuma would be charged, at the very least with fraud and corruption. His name is on every page of that judgment. He faces not only fraud and corruption charges, but racketeering, tax evasion and money-laundering as well. It is a toxic cocktail, fuelled partly, no doubt, by the NPA's desire for as watertight a case as is possible.

Nevertheless, as he has done frequently in the past few months, President Thabo Mbeki has managed to throw Zuma and his supporters a significant political lifeline. By intervening directly to stop the effort by the NPA to serve warrants on national police commissioner Jackie Selebi four months ago, arguing that such an arrest should first have been discussed with the justice minister, the president politicised the work of the NPA in the course of his campaign for re-election as ANC president .

So it is little wonder that Zuma and his supporters can now claim that Mbeki is responsible for the serving of new charges against Zuma and, coming so soon after his having defeated Mbeki for the ANC presidency, for the timing. Its reputation as an independent institution having been battered by Mbeki on the anvil of political expediency, the NPA will probably have to be reinvented when he goes.

It seems unlikely to us that what is at work here is a plot. If anything, the NPA may have acted in haste to prevent any (further) political interference from the cabinet. It seems highly unlikely that any attempt to consult Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla could possibly have resulted in a decision to charge Zuma this quickly, if ever. Mbeki has pretty much forced the NPA's acting leadership to consult Mabandla on any possible Selebi arrest and she has made herself scarce by going on holiday. As far as we know, no such stricture exists in respect of Zuma, but, if you are a prosecutor, better to get it over with before political nerve is once again lost.

Having looked for the positive in Zuma's elevation in the ANC , we now hope that he accepts the judicial process he is about to enter and accepts that our judiciary is independent and professional and that he will be able to have the best legal brains in the country fighting for him. Whatever his political suspicions, it's important for Zuma to quickly make it clear that he has confidence in the judiciary and the judicial process ­ particularly to his supporters, who will naturally be anxious for him. That is where the test of leadership arises. Zuma, thanks to the democracy and constitution he helped fight for, is free to respond to the charges in any political way he likes. It is to be expected he would encourage the belief that he is being framed or unfairly pursued. It is to be expected that he would want to be seen as a victim of an interfering government determined to prevent him becoming president of SA. It is, in other words, to be expected that he will play to the gallery. That's politics. But it is also to be expected that Zuma understands how far this may reasonably be stretched. We do not need civil unrest or even the merest hint of it over his forthcoming trial. He will be held to account for the actions of his supporters. The country and, indeed, the world will in the next few months be able to get a very good measure of the man.

It would be immensely foolish to squeeze a constitutional crisis out of these charges by, for instance, trying to remove the Mbeki administration from office on the spurious excuse that the charges somehow demonstrate the impossibility of having the ANC and state presidencies occupied by different people. The message that would send is that our constitution is vulnerable to the expediencies of the day. Governments and political parties are separate and should remain so.

Equally, we feel it would be immensely foolish to implement the recommendation of the ANC's Limpopo conference that the investigative arm of the NPA ­ the Scorpions ­ be merged into the police service. It may well be arguable that the Scorpions have been used by the Mbeki government against political opponents, but that manipulative, institution-bending administration has only 12 months to live. Surely the one that replaces it would be less inclined to behave as badly? Anyway, disbanding the unit that charges him would throw Zuma in the worst possible light, whatever the views of the ANC conference.

Perhaps the greatest danger now, though, is a Zuma who feigns to be a mere servant of the party or his political allies, to be blown hither and thither by infighting and conspiracy theories. He must be seen (outside the ANC) to be leading it for the greater good of the country, even where his own fate is at issue. That will be his test of character.

What SA needs now is calm, not crisis. We already face a difficult year in 2008, as our current account deficit balloons and inflation and interest rates continue to rise. The international economy is trembling but remains fundamentally robust. In these circumstances our economy and our markets are easy prey to the anxieties of outsiders.

The immense responsibility for creating a sense of calm both at home and in the minds of foreign markets and investors no longer can lie with Mbeki. It lies on Zuma's shoulders. However serious the charges he faces , he has a huge job as a national leader . We should all hope, as the new year dawns, that Zuma is equal to the ordeal that now confronts him. We will soon see.

With acknowledgements to Business Day.