THE leadership debate initiated by Sowetan is unavoidably timely.

The uneasiness expressed by South African Report joint editors Karima Brown and Vukani Mde to the debate seem to read more suspicion into the initiative than good intent.

Brown and Mde's rejoinder comes across as more directed at Prince Mashele's view of President Jacob Zuma's leadership than advancing their own views. By focusing on Mashele, to arrive at a conclusion that he hates Zuma, they robbed themselves of the opportunity to advaence recognition of the good that is in Zuma's leadership for appreciation by ordinary people.

Who someone worked or wrote speeches for should be no factor for qualification or disqualification in the right of the concerned person being seen or heard in the expression of views grappling with what could be the best for the country.

Similarly, who Mde and Brown previously worked for should be no basis to dismiss their bona fides.

By the same token, Mashele should defend to the death the right for the two to differ with him.

All said, done and denied, there should be no doubt that the decision to make available an opportunity for a leadership debate is correct. It is correct in the sense that the ANC, by virtue of our electoral system, is the centre of our lives since whoever the party elects as its leader becomes president of the country.

In between elections citizens are, through no fault of their own, left feeling rendered mere bystanders as they can only take part in the election of political parties that decide presidential candidates.

The unintended consequence of this electoral system is that SA politics are personality driven and loyalty based. The system eclipses the issues that need to be tackled such as leaders' proven capability levels for execution of tasks and the need for accountable governance.

Likes and dislikes, from either side of the latent divide, should not be allowed to be the staple diet of politics.

What the leadership debate does is break the monopoly for political leadership assessment being the exclusive reserve of the party, especially because Zuma is expected to be willing and able to be president even to non-ANC members.

As long as Zuma's leadership obligation places him in the Union Buildings, it should be clear that his presidency is not the sole business of the ANC as a party. He is as much our president.

To think otherwise is to expect citizens of this country to remain spectators of a democracy that rotates within the radius of the party, with the rest of society left at the periphery, waiting on five-year periodic trips to the ballot box.

This explains the lopsided notion that the rest of society is expected to join the ANC as a condition to engage in ideas about the best direction our country should take.

This country is of concern to the ANC as it is to non-members.

There should be no ceiling to the best that can be done to shape a future that generations to come will be proud to inherit.

This is the spirit in which the debate should be appreciated.

What we need now is critical common sense. That lies in the good and bad being put to scrutiny.