MAKHUDU SEFARA | Magashule joining the bad boys of our politics

The idea that former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule could, given a chance, become South Africa’s president is fuelled, in part, by his bruised ego and the voters’ history of irrational choices.

The voters’ affinity for bad boys of our politics is the air beneath Magashule’s launch of his new political party, ACT, this week.

That said, he is not one to be taken lightly. His appetite for power knows no bounds.

From the late 90s until former president Thabo Mbeki was deposed through, among others, Magashule’s efforts, at the ANC Polokwane conference in 2007, he defiantly held his ground against all efforts to render him irrelevant.

Mbeki used all manner of excuses to not appoint Magashule as ANC Free State premier despite the latter winning, in successive elections, the ANC chairmanship in the province. His break came shortly after the ANC’s 2007 conference, which victory propelled him to the premier’s office.

Part of the charges he faces in the Free State high court relate to his short stint as premier. The sarcastic will say by keeping him away from power, Mbeki and others were, in fact, saving Magashule from himself. But former president Jacob Zuma was not going to save Magashule because, in a way, even he (Zuma) needed to be saved from himself (and the Gupta brothers) too.

But once doors began to open for Magashule, it quickly went to his head. He also became secretary-general of the ruling party, a position that put him at the centre of the party’s machinery which, if properly manipulated, could propel him to the Union Buildings. The stage was set for him. A few missteps later, the cookie crumbled. The rug was pulled from under his feet. The party was over before it started.

It is with that background that when the ANC showed him the door — and the EFF leader Julius Malema showed him love, the ego had not healed. He felt he was much more of a fighter than the leader of ground forces known for fighting. He oiled the party machinery in the Free State to support him even though he had no state power during Mbeki’s era. He was calculating, driven and showed the type of political nous novices like Malema only read about. How then does he, after his expulsion, join a party of the youth who were expelled from the ANC? Why not form his own party and show the EFF and others how the political game is played?

The ego had not yet healed.

Magashule must feel his bad boy image will make voters enamoured of his new political entity. He doesn’t have to do much except promise to fight corruption – and the irony will be completely lost on him. It’s like the DA telling voters it will fight racism while failing to keep a lot of black leaders within its ranks.

He probably asked himself if the criminal case against him would cost him votes or not. In the end, he would have looked at someone like Malema who had been in and out of court, using his appearances as an opportunity to address the nation. Why would he want to use his own case to address the nation in furtherance of someone else’s party? In addition, his idol, the father of radical economic transformation, former president Jacob Zuma, is a legend who has addressed thousands on the footsteps of the courts.

The last question Magashule probably asked himself was: will the electorate embrace me? The answer is simple: the electorate embraces all manner of questionable characters. Depending on whether the question to himself came while sober, one other answer could be: well, the electorate has a knack for bad boys. The bad boys of our politics are coining it. The voting patterns are illogical.

Take Zuma. The quintessential bad boy of our politics, he should have received only votes from his wayward children if there was rationality in how we vote. Yet his popularity defied logic. Prosecutors told us how compromised he was. Through the courts, we also found out about his troubled sense of decision-making. The personal and the political created a confluence of the absurd. But the South African voter didn’t seem to care much.

Malema is another bad boy of our politics. Controversy seems to follow him. From the early days of his troubles with SA Revenue Services to “kill the farmer”, he’s the type you either love or hate. And the South African voter is warming up to him. Even the reactionary forces of the nation in the DA say the voters will eventually have to choose between the EFF and the DA. In other words, even if they hate the EFF and never want to work with it, they acknowledge, albeit grudgingly, that the EFF is increasingly becoming a popular choice for voters.

Perhaps to add the last bad boy — President Cyril Ramaphosa. Need I say more about Phala Phala? Ramaphosa has quickly mastered the game. Then deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo gave him a slap on the wrist for his state capture choreographed appearance and later became chief justice. Acting public protector Kholeka Gcaleka did an egg dance around the Phala Phala probe and is now recommended by parliament to replace Busisiwe Mkhwebane (who truly deserves the boot). Is Lesetja Kganyago, the Reserve Bank governor who did the latest whitewash of the Phala Phala probe, perhaps the future finance minister? You just can’t put it past them.

Ramaphosa has shed his good boy image quite quickly like water off a duck’s back. And, importantly, he might, next year at the polls, surprise many who are busy with coalition talks instead of building structures that connect with people on the ground.

In the end, Magashule must feel his bad boy image will make voters enamoured of his new political entity. He doesn’t have to do much except promise to fight corruption — and the irony will be completely lost on him. It’s like the DA telling voters it will fight racism while failing to keep a lot of black leaders within its ranks.

We are, indeed, the choices we make. Magashule saw voters embrace Zuma despite everything they knew about him and that sent a message that it, indeed, is possible for him too to ascend in spite of the blemishes. There’s no point trying to establish the rationale for everything. The bad boys of our politics are who they are because we, voters, made them believe that it’s okay to be like them and seek the high office.

Well done, voters, I mean, sorry, well done, boys!