It is finished. Jacob Zuma has delivered his final address as the president of the ANC. “I tried my best,” he said. He ended with a flourish: “I bear no grudge ... It is politics, it is also the views you have. I prefer those who express their views to those who don’t.”

It was perhaps a fitting end to a presidency akin to a chess game, in which he sang and danced his way to building a political machinery in the party and the government who simply told him what he wanted to hear. In fact, Zuma has been the most ruthless post-democratic president in dealing with his opponents and those who got in his way, especially those in the alliance and the party. Julius Malema and his youth league, Zwelinzima Vavi, Irvin Jim, Blade Nzimande, Pravin Gordhan, Mcebisi Jonas, Nhlanhla Nene are but a few examples of those who faced his wrath...

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