The ANC has spoken. It said South Africans shall have Jacob Zuma as their rogue president whether they like it or not.
We now know that the problem is not only Zuma and the Guptas - the whole ANC is a problem. The entire party is prepared to die.
By 2019 thousands of working South Africans will have lost their jobs .
With the rand likely to fall, social grants will no longer fill a basket of food at grocery stores. With rating agencies downgrading SA, the houses of middle class families will be foreclosed by banks before 2019.
By 2019 Zuma and his children will be filthy rich, floating in their Nkandla fire pool, eating ice cream while millions languish in poverty.
The question is: What can we do to slow down the wheels of Zuma's looting machine?
In addition to intensified public protests, we must prepare to take every decision by Zuma to court, to make it difficult for him and his friends to loot quickly. Progressive legal minds must ready themselves to spend long hours in court defending their country. This is what George Bizos and others did during apartheid.
Between now and 2019, important work awaits the black middle class. This is the time for "clever blacks" to take up their leadership role in society. They must attend political meetings to plot SA's destiny.
Millions of poor black people are crying out for leadership. They expect their educated sons and daughters to prevent SA from becoming a Zimbabwe - a land of hunger after educated citizens did nothing to stop Mugabe from ravaging it.
What must the black middle class do, practically?
The idealistic among them may consider forming a new party. But there is little time and resources for new parties before 2019. And the Congress of the People experience is not encouraging.
The most realistic option is for millions of black people to choose new political homes from existing parties.
Let those who want the rot to deepen support the ANC. Those who want to save SA should pick a party from the current opposition parties.
The black middle class must not merely wait for the next elections; they must swell the ranks of political parties in order to have a voice. If they don't do this, political bosses - even in opposition parties - can do what Zuma is doing.
Our patriotic thinkers must organise to play a constructive role in the next government. Professors who lock themselves in libraries will be smoked out by the fire ignited by crazy politicians outside.
The most imaginative of our intellectuals must ponder a constitutional review project. The wasted years of Zuma's government have exposed serious weaknesses in our country's constitution. We now know that it is dangerous to concentrate power in the office of the president. You capture a president, you capture a state.
We must rewrite our constitution in such a way that by capturing a foolish president, the next Gupta family will not have captured our entire state.
A revised constitution must never allow a president to appoint the head of the National Prosecuting Authority, for we now know that a criminal president can appoint stooges so he can stay out of jail.
A revised constitution must never allow a president to appoint and fire ministers without parliament's consent; for we have seen how a captured president can be used by a nefarious gang operating in a Saxonwold shebeen.
If we had a provision in the constitution requiring the president to seek permission from parliament before firing a minister, Nhlanhla Nene would not have been removed.
A revised constitution must be bolder in its idealism. It must set the threshold higher for becoming a president. No one without a university degree must be allowed to occupy such an important office - an uneducated president can collapse the rand without understanding its implications.
The most important lesson from the Zuma experience is that citizens must always be active in politics; they must not react after their country has been destroyed.
Any political party that takes over power in 2019 must be subjected to a stricter constitution that makes it impossible for a mad leader to cause national harm.
No more Zuma-like president at the helm
The ANC has spoken. It said South Africans shall have Jacob Zuma as their rogue president whether they like it or not.
We now know that the problem is not only Zuma and the Guptas - the whole ANC is a problem. The entire party is prepared to die.
By 2019 thousands of working South Africans will have lost their jobs .
With the rand likely to fall, social grants will no longer fill a basket of food at grocery stores. With rating agencies downgrading SA, the houses of middle class families will be foreclosed by banks before 2019.
By 2019 Zuma and his children will be filthy rich, floating in their Nkandla fire pool, eating ice cream while millions languish in poverty.
The question is: What can we do to slow down the wheels of Zuma's looting machine?
In addition to intensified public protests, we must prepare to take every decision by Zuma to court, to make it difficult for him and his friends to loot quickly. Progressive legal minds must ready themselves to spend long hours in court defending their country. This is what George Bizos and others did during apartheid.
Between now and 2019, important work awaits the black middle class. This is the time for "clever blacks" to take up their leadership role in society. They must attend political meetings to plot SA's destiny.
Millions of poor black people are crying out for leadership. They expect their educated sons and daughters to prevent SA from becoming a Zimbabwe - a land of hunger after educated citizens did nothing to stop Mugabe from ravaging it.
What must the black middle class do, practically?
The idealistic among them may consider forming a new party. But there is little time and resources for new parties before 2019. And the Congress of the People experience is not encouraging.
The most realistic option is for millions of black people to choose new political homes from existing parties.
Let those who want the rot to deepen support the ANC. Those who want to save SA should pick a party from the current opposition parties.
The black middle class must not merely wait for the next elections; they must swell the ranks of political parties in order to have a voice. If they don't do this, political bosses - even in opposition parties - can do what Zuma is doing.
Our patriotic thinkers must organise to play a constructive role in the next government. Professors who lock themselves in libraries will be smoked out by the fire ignited by crazy politicians outside.
The most imaginative of our intellectuals must ponder a constitutional review project. The wasted years of Zuma's government have exposed serious weaknesses in our country's constitution. We now know that it is dangerous to concentrate power in the office of the president. You capture a president, you capture a state.
We must rewrite our constitution in such a way that by capturing a foolish president, the next Gupta family will not have captured our entire state.
A revised constitution must never allow a president to appoint the head of the National Prosecuting Authority, for we now know that a criminal president can appoint stooges so he can stay out of jail.
A revised constitution must never allow a president to appoint and fire ministers without parliament's consent; for we have seen how a captured president can be used by a nefarious gang operating in a Saxonwold shebeen.
If we had a provision in the constitution requiring the president to seek permission from parliament before firing a minister, Nhlanhla Nene would not have been removed.
A revised constitution must be bolder in its idealism. It must set the threshold higher for becoming a president. No one without a university degree must be allowed to occupy such an important office - an uneducated president can collapse the rand without understanding its implications.
The most important lesson from the Zuma experience is that citizens must always be active in politics; they must not react after their country has been destroyed.
Any political party that takes over power in 2019 must be subjected to a stricter constitution that makes it impossible for a mad leader to cause national harm.
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