End of the Zuma era

It was heart-wrenching to witness the sack-cloth-and-ashes departure of Jacob Zuma, the once-indomitable poster boy of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. There is no shortage of heroes in the history of resistance against racism in South Africa. In a galaxy of leader-statesmen of the calibre of Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Ahmed Kathrada, Mac Maharaj, Tokyo Sexwale and Walter Sisulu, Jacob Zuma had to be extra special to carve out political space for himself. His decade in the notorious Robben Island prison and years as a militant-on-the-run earned him the number two position in the ANC hierarchy. Zuma nearly spoilt it on becoming Deputy President when he was charged of rape and bribery. However, unlike a populist leftist party snapping at its heels now, ANC faced no credible opposition then and Zuma’s demagogic skills as a vote-catcher earned him a reprieve.

The fighter in Zuma helped him bounce back. But the goatherd who espoused radical economic transformation presided over a regime that became a byword for high unemployment, recession and high levels of inequality. Zuma still managed to cling on mainly because his legacy brought in votes. But the worm turned and Zuma became a political liability when the ANC performed poorly in the 2016 local elections. South Africa’s ombudsman further turned in the screws when he accused Zuma of “state capture” with his businessmen cronies.

Zuma had dropped the baton handed over by his predecessors Thabo Mbeki, who had tried to restructure the economy, and Nelson Mandela who politically reconciled South Africa after decades of violence. South Africa today no longer pulls the same weight it did a decade back. Zuma’s successor Cyril Ramaphosa was in the political shadows for a while but is no novice. The Mandela-era leader is expected to restore the damage caused by Zuma’s free-spirited ways, including in foreign policy. India once figured high in South Africa’s foreign policy calculus and could do so again if Ramaphosa displays his skills as a negotiator to provide greater dynamism to BRICS when South Africa assumes its presidency in June this year.