A CLASSIC CASE OF HOBSON'S CHOICE

There are currently two candidates ostensibly vying to head up the ANC after Jacob Zuma steps down in 2019. They are Cyril Ramaphosa and Zuma's ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. The winner will be President of the country. Both appear competent contenders when contrasted with the empty shell leadership of the current president. In a perfect parliamentary system a ruling political party chooses its leader within a framework requiring a focus on the long-term good of the country - this means a leader vested with statesmanship as opposed to being just a politician. As a prerequisite to statesmanship the qualities of integrity, responsibility accountability, conscience and character are essential. Having enunciated the qualities of leadership, the question arises whether the contest between Ramaphosa and Dlamini- Zuma will be determined based on their respective leadership qualities. The political dynamic in the ANC for replacing Zuma in 2019 is a power struggle between competing factions. The presence or absence of leadership qualities is a non-sequitur. All that matters is factional self-interest between those who support Dlamini-Zuma or Ramaphosa - principally the three provincial premiers, and Zuma for the former; the trade unions for the latter. All of the above begs the question: who will be better for the country? There are those who predict that Dlamini-Zuma will be much like her ex-husband. Also, her actions while minister of health in promoting a "quack" cure for AIDS based on a toxic industrial solvent , and purging the country's drug-safety authority when it objected to it, should summarily disqualify her. That leaves Ramaphosa - the well-connected billionaire politician who does not need the trappings of the state to enrich himself. He acquired his riches by becoming a major beneficiary through gratuitous empowerment deals. He is beholden to his party for his wealth, and refuses, in the name of party loyalty, to distance himself from Zuma and his political chicanery. Instead he blindly supports and defends Zuma by dishing up rhetoric over reality. His lack of political will and independence raises concerns about his ability to effectively govern. The French political philosopher Alexis du Tocqueville observed that we get the leaders we deserve. What did we do to deserve the current incumbent, and the ones now positioning to control our futures? It is a rhetorical question because we reap what we sow.