Jacob Zuma is a cat with nine lives, but all his lifelines has been used up.
Several attempts to oust him from power has met a dead end…Until recently.
Zuma spent most of his presidential years in court defending allegations against corruption. he fought his battles like a side sport. with lots of laughter in court and the country’s parliament.
it almost felt like he was having fun.
He belonged to the powerful ruling party – The ANC , popular because Nelson Mandela created it.
In this party, you are invincible, untouchable by political opposing parties.In parliament they had the numbers.
and to the South African public, they were the freedom party. The going was good.
The ANC party watched as corruption thrived…
He was indicted for a 30 billion-rand (now $2.5 billion) government arms deal arranged in the late 1990s….The ANC supported him in court
In 2015, he was charged with raping a family friend’s daughter; He told the court he has not used a condom when he slept with fezekile Kuzwayo, and he took a shower afterwards to minimise the risk of contracting HIV. South African’s had a field day with his obvious ignorance. (The ANC claimed he was innocent)
The Gupta gate scandal – billionaire friends of Zuma, had used links with the president to win state contracts. The Guptas and Zuma have denied any wrongdoing…. The ANC stood by him
He upgraded his residence in the rural area of Nkandla, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, using state funds.11 million upgrade in his residence that includes a chicken coop, amphitheater and swimming pool.
Anytime his crimes was brought to parliament for an impeachment vote- party numbers played in his favor.
The Mandela party ANC, had the numbers 249 seats all 10 opposition parties combined had just 181 seats Anytime a vote of no confidence was called out against Zuma, his party members supported him. They threatened to discipline party members who voted to impeach him.
A few lone voices within the powerful ruling party called for Zuma to step down, but they were ignored.
2016 municipality elections: The hand writing on the wall.
It was annual local government elections and the South African people spoke loud and clear. with a failing economy , low investor confidence and rising cost of living, the Mandela sentiment took a back seat.
A lot of votes were lost to the opposition party. Jacob Zuma was indeed giving the ANC a bad name.
And he was not done, he was still shaking up his cabinet, sacking ministers aggressive towards him and hiring ministers sympathetic to him thereby throwing the economy into chaos
The #zuma must fall happened;
In 2017, south Africans of all races and colors took to the streets to demand the resignation of president Zuma.
The ANC leaders started speaking out against Jacob Zuma-
2019 elections were fast approaching, with Zuma in charge they would be heavily defeated.
Maybe they had read the handwriting on the wall and decided to stay on the right side of history by speaking out against him; or maybe they were truly tired of his antics. But one thing was certain, his days were numbered
Or because they were (hypocritical)
The deal was sealed, zuma had to step down OR DROWN THE PARTY.
First Zuma’s camp narrowly lost the internal party leadership tussle
The winning camp was his deputy- Ramaphosa.
The new party structure and leadership met. it was time. They sent a team to advise the president to resign.
The call for resignation gained momentum in early January.
Very few people were on Zuma’s side- the opposition, his party members and the South African people.
The country was heating up.
State of the Union was cancelled.
Cabinet meeting with country Ministers was cancelled
Party members went public with strong words against Zuma.
Intense negotiations followed- zuma sat tight and refused to resign.
Another meeting was held with Zuma; resign or be fired
Zuma is demanding three to six-month notice period before resigning from office. The ANC and national executive council has rejected this
The party had to thread carefully to avoid splitting the party into factions that supported zuma
South African Twitter was agog #zexit, #zumahasfallen
His party the ANC called for a vote of no confidence against him
The very same party that supported him over the years.
He knew he had no chance- opposition was against him, his party was against him. the South African people were against him.
On Wednesday evening, he resigned.
He rocked the ANC boat, and threatened to sink the ship of the ruling party
They threw him overboard to quiet the storm and steer their ship to the promised land of election victory come 2019. #politics
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