A tale of two revolutions….
Publish date: 19 February 2018
Issue Number: 762
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Ethiopia/South Africa
The past week has seen two formidable African nations – Ethiopia and South Africa – plunged into uncertainty as political power struggles have tested the rule of law and their Constitutions. And, notes Legalbrief, both cases saw extremely unpopular leaders forced to step down. All of South Africa was on edge after President Jacob Zuma defied his own party – the governing ANC – and initially refused to step. Not surprisingly, the country’s leading analysts have been scathing in their obituaries. What is born in chaos dies in chaos, notes Richard Poplak in a Daily Maverick analysis. Poplak points out that the Zuma Presidency rose from the flames of corruption and rape trials and a palace coup and resulted in ‘a mutant gene-splicing experiment that fused populism, Marxism, conservatism, centrism, chauvinism, charm, smarm and epic nonchalance into one reeking, larcenous package’. Said Ferial Haffajee (Huffington Post): ‘For so many years, we have been in combat mode – fighting, going to court and reporting at the coal-face of state capture as we watched our country being stolen'. When Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng swore in President Cyril Ramaphosa, 'it felt like a triumph of law over the rotten men of state capture'. 'As Zuma sets off to commune with his livestock and wait for the day he has to don orange overalls,' says Mondli Makhanya (City Press), 'South Africa and the world are left asking how a man who was so wrong to begin with remained in power for so long.' ‘And how he was even re-elected for a second term despite overwhelming evidence that he was eating our resources and gayly urinating on our laws and the Constitution that underpins them.’ CNN questions how one man was able to hold the nation 'under such polluted water for so long'. ‘The answers are many, and most of them circle around the cliché that a country gets the President it deserves. After the "rainbow nation" triumphalism of the 1990s, the privileged were still mostly smug, the underprivileged were still mostly angry and the collective was still thoroughly traumatised by 350 years of racial division. It was the perfect platform for a populist to come and make off with the spoils.' Zuma was the second President recalled by the ANC before the end of their term of office. After all, Thabo Mbeki was evicted with just months of his second term to run. Zuma has been forced out, in turn, by his successor, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, with at least a year in hand. In a Politicsweb analysis, William Saunderson-Meyer notes that while the events echo each another, the manner in which the protagonists behaved could not be more different. ‘Mbeki, who showed no sign of resisting the Zuma faction’s policy agenda once they had taken control, was treated with pettiness and spite. In contrast, Ramaphosa has been almost fawning in the respect he has shown Zuma. Whatever Mbeki’s failings, and they are legion, he departed the presidential stage with the dignity of a Socrates stoically downing the poisoned cup for the greater good. Zuma, in contrast, displayed all the dignity of a wretched convict being dragged to the gallows: cursing, threatening and pleading, in equal parts.’
Zuma is about be charged with arms-deal corruption, according to a report in the Sunday Times, which says the National Prosecuting Authority will recommend that some of the charges against Zuma be reinstated, having lined up more than 200 witnesses to testify against him. Zuma is likely to face 18 main charges of racketeering, corruption, money laundering, tax evasion and fraud related to the arms-deal corruption involving his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik. ‘Zuma is going to have his day in court soon and it's going to be ugly,’ an NPA source reportedly told the newspaper. But there's every indication he will roll out his reliable Stalingrad Strategy – fighting to delay matters by whatever means possible and appealing every ruling favourable to the plaintiff, notes Legalbrief. The Sunday Times says those close to him say Zuma will take the charges on review, which will prolong the matter. ‘The strategy is ‘‘charge me but I’ll take it on review’’ – that is why he wanted six months’ extension in office. This case will take forever,’ a source with knowledge of the matter is quoted as saying. NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku said: ‘The matter relating to former President Zuma is still under consideration. The prosecution team is yet to submit their recommendations to Advocate Abrahams.’
Rights group Amnesty International has called on the Ramaphosa administration to demonstrate greater respect for justice. ‘During Jacob Zuma’s presidency South Africa was blighted by serious human rights violations. His successor must do everything within his ... power to ensure that the state redresses this as a priority‚’ said Shenilla Mohamed‚ executive director of Amnesty South Africa, notes a TimesLIVE report. ‘Under Jacob Zuma’s leadership‚ we’ve seen a failure to ensure access to justice for victims of a range of human rights violations. For example‚ almost six years after 34 striking mineworkers in Marikana were killed by police‚ there has been no justice for victims or their families.’ She added: ‘Intimidation of independent journalists exposing corruption and ‘‘state capture’’ has also risen under Jacob Zuma’s presidency. Journalists who stood up for editorial integrity at the public broadcaster‚ SABC‚ were also harassed and intimidated.’
A half a continent away, the Ethiopian Government says its state of emergency will remain in place for six months, as the authorities move to quell ‘chaos and unruliness’. The Council of Ministers declared the country's second emergency decree in two years on Friday evening. A report on the News24 site notes that it capped a tumultuous week that saw Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn resign, a strike in the country's largest region and a massive prisoner amnesty. The Prime Minister said he was leaving to give the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) space as it pursued political reforms. ‘I myself want to become part of the solution,’ he said in announcing his resignation on Thursday. ‘The state of emergency will be for six months and will be approved by parliament,’ state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) confirmed, quoting Defence Minister Siraj Fegessa. ‘To be able to protect the constitutional system, declaring a state of emergency has become necessary,’ a government communiqué noted. While the decree is already in effect, parliamentary approval for the requested six-month period appears likely as the EPRDF and its allies control all the seats in the House of Peoples' Representatives. A SowetanLIVE report notes that the US embassy in Addis Ababa said it 'strongly' disagrees with 'restrictions on fundamental rights such as assembly and expression'. Saying the declaration 'undermines recent positive steps toward creating a more inclusive political space', the embassy called on the government 'to rethink this approach'.
