Who knows what lies ahead, but there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t rejoice in Jacob Zuma’s demise.

I’m sure you hit your Valentine’s Day celebrations out of the park, but February 14, 2018, will always be remembered as the day JZ stepped down.

Everyone knows that there was a serious power struggle happening behind the scenes, but now a new report on BizNews, by a journalist writing under a pseudonym, details just how close the country came to descending into chaos.

The reason? Zuma was prepared to go to absurd lengths to cling to power, including declaring a state of emergency.

Here are some of the startling claims from that piece:

Soon afterwards, I am told that Zuma did, in fact, consider declaring a state of emergency. I am also told that he considered having parliament cordoned off by the army. This would have made sense in that it would have prevented the motion of no confidence from being tabled the next morning. For that reason, it would presumably have happened just before or while he was speaking to the media.

I am further told that Zuma also considered ordering the arrest of Ramaphosa and his cohorts on the grounds that they had ‘conspired to unseat the President of the Republic, and overthrow the South African state’.

Can you imagine, for a moment, what would have happened had he taken this step? Perhaps just as worryingly, he appears to have had support on this front:

His plans for a state of emergency were supported by some highly placed officers in the SANDF. However, others refused, on the grounds that the constitutional conditions for declaring an emergency did not exist.

Until the last moment, I am told, the ANC NEC and caucus were far more divided about Zuma’s recall than the public was led to believe. A large number of cabinet ministers had been among those around Zuma on Fateful Wednesday, and many of them were still prepared to follow where he intended to lead. Others were phoning Ramaphosa and his team to tell them what was happening.

Lastly, I am told that Zuma’s campaign against the transition — including mobilising ethnically rooted protests — unfolded in secret over several months, and he had made extensive use of the intelligence services in the process.

Nobody thought he would go quietly into the night, but these allegations are hectic to say the least.

After his 10PM resignation, which led to a massive increase in tequila sales right around the country, Cyril’s rise to the top was pretty much complete.

He was elected and sworn in as president the next day, and his first public appearance as president was for the Armed Forces Day celebrations in Kimberley.

If you look a little closer at his speech, he may have alluded to the foiling of Zuma’s plan:

Reading from a prepared speech, the president says this year’s Armed Forces Day celebrations have a ‘profound and special meaning’ as they occur at a time when the Defence Force has ‘once again confirmed the depth of the roots of our democracy and the flourishing of constitutional order in our country. … They occur as our nation celebrates the change of leadership in the governing party without even having any appetite for senseless bloodshed. This is because our defence is led by wise men and women who abide by the ideal of the supremacy of our constitution and the rule of law’…

Looking up from his written speech, he then goes on to say, very emphatically: ‘Your task is to protect the integrity of our democracy. Your task is to protect our constitution. Your task is to protect the people of South Africa.’

Turning to General Solly Shoke, head of the SANDF, he continues: ‘And we are very pleased, General Shoke, that this Defence Force that you lead has remained committed to that task. I was extremely pleased just last week when I met on a one-to-one basis with General Shoke, and he assured me that this SANDF will never get involved in politics. This SANDF is there to protect the people of South Africa whoever the Commander in Chief is of our country.

Sure sounds like he is dropping some hints there, doesn’t it?

Let’s finish with a look at what might have happened had Zuma decided to declare a state of emergency, enlisting the help of the army:

If he had insisted on declaring a state of emergency, who would have stopped him? Would he have been restrained in some way? And if he had made the announcement, what could anyone have done to reverse it? A chain of events would have been set in motion which would have been very difficult to arrest or reverse. The scales of power would have tilted back, and remained there for an indeterminate period.

South Africa would have entered a new and strange political landscape, with no known way of getting back…

Put simply, if this is what went down (and the evidence is compelling), the ANC should come clean, and we – ultimately all of us, collectively – should look this beast straight in the eye.

In the meantime, will somebody please give each of those guys in the SANDF (including lower-ranking generals, apparently) a beeeg bloody Bells.

Yup, I think they deserve a stiff drink on behalf of the people of this country. In fact, I think we all deserve a stiff drink.

Talk about dodging a bullet, right?

[source:biznews]