Dlamini-Zuma has lost her old passion - now she's just tiresome

03 December 2017 - 00:03 By ranjeni munusamy

There was a time when I thought that Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma might make a good president.
It was after she shouted at me at a 2002 Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Australia, in front of several presidents and foreign ministers. Dlamini-Zuma, who was foreign minister at the time, was furious that I had reported on South Africa's desperate efforts to protect Zimbabwe from being suspended from the Commonwealth.
At a cocktail party for the media and Commonwealth leaders, she raged that I had imperilled South Africa's delicate negotiations with other nations at the summit. She also said that because a South African newspaper had reported on what happened in a closed-door meeting, former president Robert Mugabe and his ministers were suspicious that the leak might have come from her delegation.
It turned out that the "quiet diplomacy" policy, which former president Thabo Mbeki and Dlamini-Zuma adhered to, applied only to Zimbabwe and not to a journalist with an exclusive story.
Dlamini-Zuma then swished off, leaving onlookers startled.One foreign leader sauntered over and remarked that with a foreign minister like Dlamini-Zuma, it was surprising that South Africa was not at war.
When I thought about it, I realised that she could be a formidable president some day because of her passion for her job.
South Africa's approach to Zimbabwe was rubbish and provided cover for Mugabe to subvert democracy and drive his country into the ground. But at that summit in Australia, Mbeki, Dlamini-Zuma and some other African leaders fought the colonial powers to stave off sanctions against Zimbabwe - until electoral discrepancies and human rights violations made them inevitable.
Dlamini-Zuma was a force to be reckoned with as foreign minister, and although occasionally abrasive with her counterparts, she was widely respected. Mbeki was a serious player on the international scene and Dlamini-Zuma pursued his agenda for Africa's development with conviction.
It is difficult to establish what happened between then and now to turn her into a listless presidential candidate, mouthing empty rhetoric and taking on President Jacob Zuma's baggage.
Her campaigners have talked up her experience and achievements, all of which are impressive on paper. She possesses the credentials to be the next ANC leader, but has surrendered her credibility to the dodgy characters around her.Having Bathabile Dlamini and Carl Niehaus as chief campaigners is like getting Harvey Weinstein and Chris Brown to run the Miss Universe pageant - self-defeating and with immense potential for disaster.
By not distancing herself from the state capture network, Dlamini-Zuma has allowed the looting clique to hold her aloft as its future guardian.
She has not even put much effort into countering the allegations in Jacques Pauw's bookThe President's Keepers about her links to villains in the tobacco underworld.
How could she allow Free State premier Ace Magashule to be the candidate for secretary-general on her slate when he is deep in scandal and cannot even hold a credible ANC conference in his province? What would become of the ANC if he was head of the administration nationally?
Dlamini-Zuma has feebly adopted the radical economic transformation campaign to pander to the constituency backing her.
Her real agenda remains a mystery. Would she really keep the Zuma project on track or is she just using that camp as a stepping stone to ascend to power?
The ANC Women's League has been delirious about the prospect of Dlamini-Zuma becoming the first woman president.The gender issue is something Dlamini-Zuma could have owned. She helped break the glass ceiling in international diplomacy, particularly in Africa.
In a country besieged by violence against women and where gender disparities are entrenched, Dlamini-Zuma could have been a fierce campaigner against patriarchy.
But other than empty statements, she has failed to confront the sources of discrimination.
She has the platform to challenge the men who abuse, harass and subjugate women, but she has not used it effectively.
When asked a few months ago about former higher education and training deputy minister Mduduzi Manana assaulting women, Dlamini-Zuma said: "It is different in that he himself has admitted to it. I am saying if he had not admitted to it, it would have been a problem to take action against him."..

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