‘From Hero to Zero’

Friday 16th July, 2021

What has befallen former South African President Jacob Zuma serves as a warning to all political leaders of his ilk in other parts of the world. He is languishing behind bars for having sought to evade accountability for his questionable actions during his tenure as President. His imprisonment has sparked widespread riots and looting.

In his youth, Zuma made a name for himself as a freedom fighter, taking on the apartheid regime, and even served a prison term for doing so. Having lived in exile for years, he returned home to a hero’s welcome and went on to become the President. It was after his rise to power that his image was tarnished by a spate of allegations of corruption. He cut a rug in public and many questionable deals on the sly. He surrounded himself with some corrupt cronies, whose rackets caused huge losses to the public purse. Allegations of corruption and abuse of power against him were such that he lost the backing of the African National Congress and had to resign before being impeached.

Zuma’s incarceration for 15 months was due to his failure to show up at an inquiry into some corrupt deals during his time in office. He may not have expected such a heavy gavel blow for contempt of court. If only he had prevented his greed from getting the better of him when he was in power and respected the law of the land at least in retirement.

Zuma’s imprisonment has been hailed in some quarters as proof of the robustness of South Africa’s democratic institutions, especially the judiciary. True, not many expected the constitutional court to take such deterrent action against someone like Zuma. But there are others who are convinced otherwise; they are of the view that the riots and pillage are attributable to social inequality, which has come to stay in South Africa despite the end of apartheid about 27 years ago. This argument sounds tenable to some extent in that the real causes of the violence and looting are also economic. The jailing of Zuma apparently acted as the trigger.

It is doubtful whether Zuma’s claim that he is a victim of a conspiracy by some western puppets has struck a chord with the public as such, although he still has some following among the ordinary South Africans, and is remembered for his role in fighting racial oppression in the past. The ongoing economic and social restrictions aimed at halting the spread of Covid-19 have hurt the South African public, and their outrage has spilled over into the streets. The situation is bound to take a turn for the worse unless the police backed by the army succeed in reining in looters and arsonists who are having a field day.

Riots raging across South Africa for the seventh day running have left about 100 persons dead had a crippling effect on that country’s economy. Shortages of food and fuel are already being felt, according to media reports. Violence and looting could not have come at a worse time for South Africa; they have acted as super spreader events, and there will be a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, necessitating sterner action to curb the spread of the virus and aggravating the economic woes of the public.

If Zuma had cooperated with the judiciary and faced the corruption probe, he would not have been currently in prison, and his country would not have been facing the worst unrest in decades. There are lessons that leaders in other parts of the world ought to learn from what is happening in South Africa. They must realise that the sky is not the limit where their actions are concerned; they must be prepared to face the consequences of their commissions and omissions, and attempts to evade accountability could lead to disaster.