Prosecute Zuma on principle -- you must be joking

As my regular readers will know, I am a big fan of President Thabo Mbeki and supported his bid to reclaim the ANC leadership at Polokwane. That does not detract from the fact that the delegates at Polokwane chose Jacob Zuma as ANC president, and members and supporters of the ANC have to accept that.

What is proving to be of grave concern are events post-Polokwane, and in particular the failure to clarify the Jackie Selebi issue, the arms-deal probe and the arrest of Scorpions boss Gerrie Nel.

These cannot, in my humble opinion, be considered to be unrelated to the ongoing faction war within the party and the decision to prosecute Zuma ; even if they were, the perception is that there are vested interests at work.

Unless a mechanism is found to deal with all of these issues, South Africans are going to start feeling the effects sooner rather than later.

Consider the crime statistics of the country, loss of investment and friction on the ground while this circus plays itself out. I’d like to know, for example, what percentage of our crime-fighting resources is being employed to keep this little game going? How much investment is being lost while interested parties wait for this abomination to sort itself out?

At present we have :

Jacob Zuma being charged;

the arms deal being probed;

the police commissioner who may or may not be charged;

the Scorpions boss charged; and

the Cape Town spying scandal.

We also have a country that ranks among the most violent in the world with crime statistics that in themselves are criminal. What part of AfriForum’s decision to try to investigate the government’s failure to address crime properly owes itself to this political tit-for-tat I can’t say — but it just adds more fuel to the fire.

When this starts translating itself into violence on the ground, as it invariably will, people are going to be forced to start addressing the underlying cause of this friction. We have the perception that the government is using state machinery to force the hand of Zuma supporters — pursuant to this, arrests and charges are being brought as well as counter-charges in what we can only presume to be attempts at seeking retribution for the initial charges.

This has resulted, at the very least, in political unrest, a turf war between the police and Scorpions (please be reminded of our crime stats) and opposition parties claiming that the ANC is run by criminals (hope this wasn’t discovered in another one of their spying scandals) and that Zuma must step down while his case is ongoing.

In the case of Bantu Holomisa, I would draw to his attention the fact that a few short weeks ago at Polokwane, the ANC delegates voted overwhelmingly in favour of Zuma — to suggest that he step down because of what is perceived to be a singling-out of the ANC president is not only unhelpful; it may well be inflammatory.

Try again.

Certain segments of the public are of the view that we must prosecute Zuma on principle — if we fail to do so, we are setting a precedent that Zuma is above the law. What then are their views on the parties to the arms deal as well as the Selebi and Nel issues?

Are these and the Zuma matter not being driven by political agendas and the turf war between the police and Scorpions that has flowed therefrom?

Are we as South Africans to accept that a large part of our criminal justice system is going to be allowed time off to play political wars while crime runs rampant, the economy is battered and people across the colour lines leave to improve their quality of life?

The criminal justice system and independent judiciary are made up of fine men and women who serve the public for relatively low income, horrendous hours and no little threat to them and their families. While it is all well and good to say Zuma and everyone else who is going to be arrested while this is allowed to continue will be given a fair trial, the question remains: Are they being tried because there is merit or because they are the latest targets in this political war? If you believe it is on merit, then best you start researching who is involved in which current scandal, and you may well feel that there are many, many more who merit the same.

What happens to the parties who sit on the bench, move the prosecution or police the events? Are their lives forfeit in the interests of justice? If it is justice and not politics in the first place.

Are you prepared to watch South Africa burn, based on principles that in themselves may be inappropriate because the starting point might well be that the prosecutions are grounded in politics, not crime? No question there are grounds to prosecute many of our politicians, and not only in the ANC — the problem is: Where does it end and what does it do to South Africa?

Put your ear to the ground — you’ll hear the sabre-rattling is getting louder and ordinary South Africans more concerned about how this is going to affect them.

The time has come to draw a line in the sand. Like the ending of apartheid, which nobody believed possible, and the amnesties that released thousands of prisoners to create space, a one-off political, criminal amnesty needs to be applied — immediately.

It does not create a precedent because people cannot rely on a further amnesty nor claim relief unless it applies to them.

Yes, it will have thousands of critics who slam it as surrendering to corruption and crime, giving in to political blackmail and making us look backward to the outside world.

We will be drowned in paper and bullshit, rather than bullets.

Pundits will rage on until something more interesting comes along — South Africans, without this threat, will be able to sit back and claim how disgusted they are with politics while the economy will be released from the strain of uncertainty.

The ANC members can tell each other how lucky they are to still be out of jail while the fences begin to mend and memories return of how they brought down apartheid as comrades-in-arms, not rivals in a dead-end political feud.

The ANC can get on with the business at hand and prepare for the transfer of power in the ordinary course. The president and the ANC president working together to build on transformation.

The independent criminal justice system and judiciary will be getting the credit they deserve for dealing with crime and not being used as a political ping-pong ball. If you really want to use the money designated for these trials, start paying prosecutors, police officers and correctional services better money.

If inter alia Zuma, Selebi and Nel, regardless of your feelings towards any of them, are to be given a clean slate in order to get back to business, then let’s get on with the business of rebuilding our country now. Remember, this would also ensure that the new government could not turn on the old government as it would be covered by the amnesty.

The price we will have to pay for ignoring the underlying problem is going to be enormous. We will then be forced to make concessions for peace that will make the above seem a mere pittance.

Let’s skip the destruction part and move to the table now.