5 September 2008
editorial
Johannesburg — PROPOSALS that could result in the ruling ANC's unions and communist alliance partners being given the right to name ANC candidates for next year's elections are a clear measure of the danger the country faces should Jacob Zuma ever become head of state.
Politically, Zuma is too weak now to stand up to the allies from the left or the ANC Youth League. They are almost wholly responsible for him being next in line for the country's top job in the first place. They could destroy as they have made him -- by simply walking away.
But, hell, why would they do that now? A proposal to give Cosatu and the SACP and the ANCYL nominating rights at a special conference later this year when the ruling party meets to decide on its list of national and provincial candidates is the start of payback time. Payback to the allies, of course, will be ongoing during a Zuma presidency.
Cosatu and SACP leaders have never made any secret of the fact that they expect Zuma to do their bidding (at least some of the time) if and when he becomes president. But they would also -- quite reasonably given their investment -- not want to take him entirely on trust. Cabinet seats are where the power is -- and where you can nip any revisionist backsliding on policy in the bud before it even begins -- and to get one you normally have to be elected to Parliament.
Getting to be Education Minister Blade Nzimande this way is a lot easier than running an election campaign yourself as leader of the SACP. Neither the communists nor the unions would make much political headway among a largely nationalist and conservative electorate.
But they have always been, and remain, far better organised machines than the ramshackle ANC, and particularly useful at election time. That is why the ANC, even when President Thabo Mbeki ruled it, never split with them. And now that they have created (or recreated) Zuma they have the whole of the party at their feet. It's an ominous time for SA.
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It is an ominous time for SA and don't I know it.