The more things change the more they remain the same

Polokwane 2007 will be remembered as the “Night of the Long Knives” in South African history. Spear headed by Jacob Zuma, a change of guard happened within the ANC that saw the regime of Thabo Mbeki fall to new leadership. The ANC Polokwane conference brought about fundamental change in how the president of the ANC is chosen. For the first time in the 98 year history of the organisation, the ANC has a traditionalist African leader instead of one who quotes from Shakespeare and attended the prestigious Black University of Fort Hare. Jacob Zuma was a product of Thabo Mbeki, as many annalists put it, in that Thabo Mbeki and his government had done selective prosecutions on the Arms Deal, leading him to be the next leader of the party and eventually state president. Jacob Zuma was able to build a big support base from within the organisation by having the Youth League, then under the leadership if Fikile Mbalula, the ANC Women’s League as well as the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), who are part of the Tripartite Alliance, to be on his side due to feeling side lined by Thabo Mbeki and the then leadership of the ANC. The writing was on the wall that Jacob Zuma would emerge victorious prior to the conference  however, Thabo Mbeki stuck to the well coined ANC statement:  “the ANC will decide when I should step down” instead of doing the honourably allowing Zuma to be president. What happened in Polokwane in September 2008 will always be remembered as the day the “Big Man” finally fell on his own sword.

Jacob Zuma has always maintained that there is a conspiracy to stop him from being elected as president of the ANC and eventually to become State President. His conspiracy was first given some light when Judge Chris Nicholson on the 12^th of September 2008 ruled that there was some sort of conspiracy going on to not allow Zuma to run for president of the ANC and eventually for the country. He lambasted Bulelani Ngcuka for calling a press conference to charge Schabir Shaik and not charge Zuma when there was “Prima Facie” evidence that Shaik had in fact benefited from Zuma in getting tenders from the Arms Deal. A corrupt relationship would in all cases have a corrupter and a corrupted individual but according to Ngcuka, Zuma’s case was not winnable even though all he had to do was use the same evidence they used to convict Shaik to convict Zuma as well. Nicholson’s ruling was overturned by Judge Louis Harms of the Supreme Curt of Appeal who said Nicholson’s ruling “changed the rules of the game, took his eyes off the ball and red-carded not only players but also spectators”. Harms also held that “a prosecution is not wrongful merely because it is brought for an improper purpose. It will only be wrongful if, in addition, reasonable and probable grounds for prosecution are absent”. This in other words means that even though a conspiracy did exist to prosecute Zuma to stop him from being president, the fact that there is evidence that is not tainted allows the prosecuting team to continue with the charges and charge him for corruption.

Our prosecuting authority at this point was very compromised in that even though no truth could be established to prove that Zuma had indeed been charged for political reasons, the mere fact that a Judge was able to establish their being some sort of link to prove a conspiracy theory was detrimental to the Rule of Law. Zuma made representations to the NPA where he provided them with actual proof of a conspiracy being plotted from within the NPA and outside to ensure that he is not elevated to the West Wing of the Union Buildings. His representations were classified information that was obtained by the Intelligence Services while they were doing a surveillance on Leonard McCarthy who at the time was head of the Directorate of Special Operatives or famously known as the Scorpions. He had discussed the Zuma trial with former NPA Head Bulelani Ngcuka as well as when to charge him in the run up to the Polokwane Conference. There was mention of the “Big Man at Shell House” who McCarthy remained loyal too as well as being “My President”. Many a time the “Big Man at Shell House” is referred too as Thabo Mbeki because Chief Albert Luthuli House where the head quarters of the ANC are once was called Shell House. That is a topic for another day.

The Zuma debacle though has many unanswered questions such as how is it that a private citizen such as Zuma was able to get his hands on classified Intelligence Services information. Such information is only for intelligence services only as well as the State President who at the time was Thabo Mbeki. The then Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils has come out on many occasions to say that as head of the Intelligence services he had not been privy to that information nor did he know how that information landed in Zuma’s hands. The other problem we also find ourselves in is that our prosecutors were used as pawns by their heads to play an individual based on personal problems they were not involved. The fact that Bulelani Ngcuka was still influential in the NPA is cause for concern because he is a former employee and should therefore not have any influence on the workings within the NPA. To make matters worse, President Jacob Zuma has now made Adv Menzi Simelani as the new Head of the NPA. This is the same man who was found to lack credibility as well as show a total lack of knowledge of our Constitution by the Ginwala Enquiry. This the very same person who was instructed by then Justice minister Brigette Mabandla to tell former NPA Head Vusi Pikoli to stop the arrest as well as search and seizure warrants for former Chief of Police Jackie Selebi. If Menzi Simelani was used by Minister Mabadla to halt the Jackie Selebi investigation, what guarantee do we have that he will uphold the Rule of Law as stipulated by the Constitution, remain loyal to the Constitution, be independent as well as be free from influence like he was as Director General of the Justice Department?

The mere fact that prior to President Jacob Zuma going into office he was able to have influence in out intelligence services is a cause for concern now that he is State President. We must not forget that prior to the charges being dropped against the President, Moe Shaik was the first one to tell us that at a lecture at University of Pretoria. At that point he was also a private citizen and as to how he knew that the NPA is going to drop the charges is a matter we probably will never know of. Scary as it is, he is our new Intelligence Head. The Arms Deal is a “cancer in our body politic” as Judge Chris Nicholson described it in that ruling that had Thabo Mbeki re-called by the National Executive Committee of the ANC. Until the whole truth is revealed, many more causalities are still to come and the Rule of Law will be changed to suit those in power during that time. We have seen it happen before and history has a nasty way of repeating itself.

It is often said that many liberation movements fall because of corruption and more importantly from Arms Deal corruption. Are we going to see that happen in South Africa?