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South Africa’s Jacob Zuma Fired! – How he was brought down by his own men

LONDON - MARCH 03: The South African President Jacob Zuma inspects the troops at the ceremonial welcome on Horseguards Parade, as part of his three day State Visit to the UK, March 03, 2010 in London, England. (Photo by Dominic Lipinski/WPA Pool - Getty Imkages)

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.

Members of parliament prepare to vote for or against the motion of no confidence against South African president, Jacob Zuma in the South African parliament, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017, in Cape Town, South Africa. While the president has survived several such votes in the past, this is the first to be conducted by secret ballot. (AP Photo/Rodger Bosch Pool Photo via AP)

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.

10/01/2018. ANC secretary General, Ace Magashuke address the media on the sidelines of the special NEC meeting held in East London ahead of the ANC 106 birthday celebrations.Picture: Masi Losi

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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