Zuma’s threats overshadow SA’s potential milestone election

South Africa was robbed of a big moment this past week. A moment so big it would have easily been added to its list of

“Where were you when…” questions that etch moments into people’s minds forever. “Where did you vote in ’94”, or “Where were you when you heard that Chris Hani has been killed”, or “Where were you when Nelson Mandela was released?”

The big moment the country was robbed of would have spawned the question “where did you vote when the ANC lost their first national election?” It is a significant moment that was lost in uncertainty because of the brinkmanship of that one man – Jacob Zuma.

Zuma has been described as the ex that will not leave the country alone. And it does not seem like he is about to anytime soon. On Saturday, he disabused South Africans of the notion of their “African exceptionalism” for the umpteenth time.

The self-created and misleading belief that “South Africa will not go the way of all other African countries because South Africa is different”.

On Saturday, former president Jacob Zuma threatened “something” if the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) released the results of the election.

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As usual, the threat was a veiled one, but it was unmistakable, nonetheless.

“An announcement of the results will be a provocation to the MK party.” Provocation to do what is something he never specified, but the country was put on that “expect a July 2021 looting” expectation, which the MK party and its leaders have allowed to hover over the whole electioneering period leading up to the national election.

With Zuma, the master at playing victim, taking every opportunity to remind everyone how he was even sent to jail without trial, the MK party became a standing threat to stability in the country before, during and after elections because of the “victimisation” of the party and its leader.

The instruction to the IEC to not release the election results firmly put South Africa in the camp of all those African countries where elections are synonymous with instability, with the very real possibility of post-election violence.

Only time will tell if the post-election period does not produce the kind of chaos and violence from which South Africans have always naively thought they were immune to.

No matter what happens now, whether the unspoken “July 2021 threat” becomes reality or not, the IEC did the right thing by not taking instructions from a politician.

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The IEC did not cover itself in glory in this past election.

The signs of inefficiencies have been there from previous elections: scanners not working, ink markers running out of ink, voting stations running out of ballot papers and mismanagement of ballot papers and boxes after voting.

The IEC needs an overhaul, but not in the midst of chaos that is designed to protect one man from the shenanigans he pulled when he had all the power in the land.

The moment South Africa’s most influential political force lost an election should have been a huge historical mark in time. Not necessarily to be celebrated or mourned, but as a point to note in the maturing journey of South Africa’s democracy.

South Africans may have had that moment stolen from them but there is enough fight left in their resilient spirit not to let one man’s battle drag the whole country down.

Zuma will not miraculously disappear, but the choice of whether to stand up to his brinkmanship games is for the country to make.

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