A week is enough time in politics for the guy who always has the last word

Every year the president is shouted down and seven days later he comes roaring back, writes Qaanitah Hunter

It was once again a tale of two Thursdays. The first, an evening when an embattled President Jacob Zuma was called a "tsotsi" and a "constitutional delinquent" to his face.

That was also the night when, in spite of him having called in more than 400 armed troops, the president was made to wait for an hour to deliver his state of the nation address. The EFF protested against having a man found by the courts to have violated the constitution address parliament and the result was violence and pandemonium.

On the second of the two Thursdays, Zuma emerged from the debate over his delayed speech unshaken and confident, despite having sat through two days of roasting by MPs.

story_article_left1

He was in fighting form as he lambasted opposition MPs, specifically the EFF, for treating parliament "like something worse than a beer hall".

Julius Malema and his red beret troops were not in the house, having boycotted the session as they consider Zuma an illegitimate president.

With no one from the EFF to interrupt him as he spoke this time, Zuma stopped just short of calling the party's antics childish.

"We again appeal to those MPs and parties that have taken a decision to cause mayhem in the house to use available democratic mechanisms to express themselves, within the bounds of decency and decorum. As adults we can disagree ideologically, but we should not lose track of the national interest," Zuma said.

He said nothing of his own culpability in the annual chaos that is the state of the nation address. He expressed no regret at the fact that on his watch the state has used force against elected public representatives in an attempt to resolve what is essentially a political problem.

Instead, having dispensed with his criticism of the EFF's behaviour, he turned his attention to the DA.

Over the previous two days, MP after MP from the DA's benches had torn into Zuma's main state of the nation theme of a need for "radical economic transformation".

DA MPs told Zuma during the debate on the address that this was just empty rhetoric to win back the voters the ANC has lost to the more militant EFF.

In true Zuma fashion, he was quick to characterise the official opposition's objections in terms of race. The objections to his plans by the historically white-dominated party were "confirmation that some of our patriots are determined to defend and protect the status quo and ensure that the ownership, control and management of the economy remains skewed in favour of a racial minority", he said.

block_quotes_start The real story, of course, is that the institutions rubbed the president the wrong way when they froze the accounts of his friends the Guptas, who also happen to be business partners with his son Duduzane block_quotes_end

Perhaps as part of his attempt to portray the official opposition as a "white party" whose main objective is to protect white privilege unfairly acquired under colonialism and apartheid, Zuma simply ignored DA leader Mmusi Maimane's contribution to the debate.

In a hard-hitting speech on Tuesday, Maimane had told parliament that Zuma was "the enemy of the people" and that his ANC government was directly responsible for the deaths of at least 94 psychiatric patients who Gauteng authorities had placed in unsuitable care facilities.

It was not the first time Zuma acted as if Maimane had not spoken. He did the same in 2015 when the young leader of the official opposition famously referred to him as a "a broken man, presiding over a broken society". Zuma was to acknowledge those stinging words only months later in an angry speech in which he mocked those he said were obsessed with Nkandla.

Maybe he will yet respond to what Maimane said of him on Tuesday, but don't hold your breath.

mini_story_image_vright1

When it comes to Maimane, the president's approach is to simply ignore him. Contrast that with the attention Zuma always gives to Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the much smaller IFP.

To be sure, there were a few DA MPs whose contribution to the debate was responded to by Zuma.

He agreed with Solly Malatsi, for instance, on his view that the government had failed to meet its land restitution targets.

Zuma, however, blamed this failure on the "willing buyer, willing seller" policy.

And in what could be read as an attempt to dismiss DA MP Phumzile van Damme's charge that "corruption and the ANC are inseparable", Zuma jokingly asked when the DA MP had risen from the dead. He had heard, he said, that Van Damme had died on New Year's Eve. This was, of course, a play on the maskandi hit of the festive season about achieving the impossible, like killing action film hero Jean-Claude van Damme .

But if the DA is an irritation that has to be painted as anti-transformation, ignored or mocked , the Freedom Front Plus is a gift that keeps on giving for a president who seems to relish any opportunity to go populist.

As it has done in previous years, the FF+ gave Zuma that opportunity this week when its leader, Pieter Groenewald, claimed that government policies aimed at redressing the racial imbalances that still exist were "racist".

With months to go before the ANC's elective conference at which Zuma and his supporters will attempt to hold on to power by hand-picking the next president, the charge gave him a chance to sell himself as the champion of black aspirations for access to land and the economy.

The revelation that the Competition Commission will approach the Competition Tribunal to ask for action to be taken against 17 financial institutions, both local and international, implicated in the manipulation of the currency market could also not have come at a better time for Zuma.

For months now, Zuma and his backers have been blaming his political woes on the banks, specifically, and "white monopoly capital" in general.

story_article_left2

They have said that these institutions were opposed to him because he was demanding changes in their ownership structures and management. The real story, of course, is that the institutions rubbed the president the wrong way when they froze the accounts of his friends the Guptas, who also happen to be business partners with his son Duduzane.

Attempts by his followers to have the banks investigated have been thwarted, largely by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's approach to the courts, where he seeks an order declaring that government intervention in the matter would be illegal. And so the Competition Commission announcement was a godsend for the president.

Zuma was firm in his stated intent to act against those involved in the scandal. It remains to be seen, however, whether it will persuade him to appoint a commission to investigate "collusion" in the banking sector as demanded by his supporters.

By the time he concluded his reply to the state of the nation debate, Zuma appeared to be in charge - a more confident president than the one South Africa had witnessed the previous Thursday. Even his detractors on the ANC side of the house joined in the standing ovation as he returned to his seat.

Expect the same routine this time next year. That is, if the Zuma faction prevails at the December ANC conference.

If it doesn't, we might be looking back at this week's debate as the last one with Zuma as president.