A political solution to the Zuma dilemma

[Dave A]

It seems the noise level for a political solution to the Jacob Zuma corruption trial problem is escalating. What I find interesting is that the noise seems to be to find a way past the imminent trial, rather than facing up to the rather more obvious solution.

At the risk of ticking a few people off, this is a crisis not because JZ is facing a corruption trial. It is a crisis because the ANC has set him up as their leader. And from there the country's leader in waiting. The corruption issue was already present before the president-on-trial issue arose.

Now in quite a few parts of the world and amongst lots of political parties this would not be a problem at all. They wouldn't view this as a dilemma because they wouldn't have appointed a person as their leader in the first place knowing he/she still had to cross this kind of hurdle.

Yep! No-one wandered into this blind. It wasn't some murky secret that emerged after the fact. The ANC congress met at Polokwane in the full knowledge that this problem existed and had to be navigated. I guess the position was that supporting a leader despite this handicap is somehow laudable instead of sheer folly.

There wasn't anyone else who could have been nominated and elected?
Someone without this cloud hanging over them?
Does the ANC really have so few options for top dog available?

And I suppose the prospect of the hot-heads that got JZ elected going and fixing their mistake is even more remote.

The political solution lies in the ANC's own hands, and they don't need to push an amnesty through and tarnish the whole country to solve it.

Find a leader for the country that doesn't have a cloud having over him - or her. And let's get on with building a country where crime doesn't pay and honest work gets its just reward.