We have a lot to learn from Jacob Zuma’s engineering of Thambo Mbeki’s downfall

William Mervin Gumede, the South African journalist and well known chronicler of the ANC politics, had more or less predicted it: but not many read Gumede’s “Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for The Soul of the ANC” with the attention it deserved.

The book had been published in early 2007 (London: Zed Books) and I remember buying it during a trip to Pretoria and reading it on the plane all the way to Nairobi. When I got home, knowing that the ANC’s 52nd National Conference would be held soon, I called my friend Brigalia Bam, then chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, and just remarked: “Please read Gumede’s book: I think Mbeki is in trouble.” Apparently Brigalia never had the time to do so. When the Conference was held in Polokwane from December 16-20 2007, Mbeki was replaced as the chairman of the ANC by his former Deputy President Jacob Zuma. Gumede had seen this coming. The plot thickened from then on. Why do I tell this story?