THE THICK END OF THE WEDGE
Ramaphosa has to fight dirty for top job
Zuma won in 2007 because he broke all the rules. It is time Ramaphosa did too, writes Peter Bruce
Almost exactly 10 years ago, filled with much more bravado than I am nowadays, I dedicated this column to a heartfelt plea to then-president Thabo Mbeki. It was the beginning of 2007, at the end of which year, like this one, the governing ANC was to hold a leadership election at its congress in Polokwane. The air then, as it is now, was thick with politics. Jacob Zuma had brilliantly brought himself back from the political grave into which Mbeki had tossed him in 2005 when he fired him as deputy president. A coalition of the wounded (people or groups snubbed, ignored or otherwise offended by an aloof Mbeki) had gathered around Zuma. It was a tsunami, then Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi would boast. He was right. My plea to Mbeki way back then was simple. Drop out of the race. Do not seek a third term as ANC leader. Announce publicly, now, early, that you will not be available for re-election. Allow someone else to stand against Zuma. You don’t appreciate how unpopular you ...
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