[I notice in the various news reports that everyone is praising President Mbeki for firing Vice President Zuma for corruption as a result of his relationship with the corrupt Muslim businessman, Shabir Shaik.

Everyone, including Buthelezi, who is a Zulu, were agreeing with Mbeki.

I have no reason to defend Zuma. He is a stalwart member of the ANC, so I couldn’t care less what happens to him. But let me say this: I doubt that Zuma is any more corrupt than any of the rest of them. I’ll bet you that there are many senior Govt officials striking all sorts of deals all the time.

Let me give you a small example. Some years ago I took my car to an Auto Electrical shop to have an immobiliser installed. While waiting for my car, I started chatting to the owner of the shop. In the course of the conversation he told me how a Black Member of Parliament had pitched up with a fancy BMW. The Black MP then sort of nodded and winked and said, “I would like that top-of-the-range HiFi system installed in my car for free. If you do that for me I’ll do some ‘favours’ for you.” The owner of the Auto Electrical shop replied: “The only ‘favour’ you can do for me is to pay me for installing the HiFi system.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if our Govt officials are busy lining their beds with all sorts of deals all the time.

This brings me to Zuma. It is clear that Shabir Shaik and Zuma must have been spied on for a very long time. The State had a case against Shaik that was water-tight. Yet, time and again, it was Zuma’s dirty laundry that was aired in public, week after week as the trial continued.

To my knowledge, Zuma never misused public funds. Yes, there was corruption between him and Shaik – but I doubt Zuma actually stole anything.

I believe that Zuma was targetted for the simple reason that in 2008 Mbeki has to step down, because his two terms are over, and he needs to prepare the way for his successor.

Now Zuma is a Zulu, whereas the Inner Circle of the ANC are all Xhosas (Mandela is a Xhosa Chief). The ANC is run by a “Xhosa Conspiracy” if you will. It is tribalism.

The ANC needed Zulu support, because the Zulus are the biggest tribe (and historically are enemies of the Xhosas). I believe that in a gesture similar to what Mugabe made with Joshua Nkomo (who was from a tribe different to Mugabe), I believe the ANC needed the Zulu backing to get the ANC into power, and so they brought in Zuma.

To my knowledge, about 50% of the Zulus backed the ANC – because of Zuma. My understanding is that Zuma is very popular and he is largely responsible for bringing Zulu support to the ANC – especially when Mbeki appointed him as the Vice President. It was a conciliatory tribal gesture.

But, the Zulus play second fiddle in the ANC. The ANC is really run by Xhosas.

Apparently Zuma was not only very popular, but he was working behind the scenes to garner support to become the next President of South Africa.

I believe the Xhosas could not allow that, and that they never had any intention, ever of allowing him to rule this country. It is my view that is why Mbeki set Zuma up for a fall. They had to discredit him and completely destroy him – and they did it through this trial.

There is another reason too, why I believe Zuma could not be allowed to rule this country, but for that, I need to scan an old document and then people will see what I am getting at.

I believe that the ANC never had any intention of allowing Zuma to get to the top. They just used him for the Zulu vote, and they had to plan his exit.

Zuma has an interesting history. Zuma ran the ANC Intelligence Department in Mozambique during the “struggle”, while Mbeki was enjoying life lounging around in Britain! Zuma has worked hard, and knows how to play the game.

Then there is the “Zulu aspect” – of Zulus standing up for themselves. Zuma has said he will fight. And this is where it gets interesting. Will he be able to fight, or will the ANC quietly be able to turn the screws on him and prevent him from ever again entering politics? Or can Zuma still turn around and burn Mbeki or even the ANC at some time in the future? It is hard to say. But I do wonder if the ANC hasn’t ticked off the Zulus in a big way… and whether this will come back to bite them in the future. The Xhosas and the Zulus were busy killing each other quite happily just 10 years ago, and all the Zulus need is something to fuel their paranoia. This could lead to renewed troubles between them. Exactly how bad it will be remains to be seen.

There was one really interesting moment today which caught my attention. When Zuma gave his final speech today and handed in his resignation, he said that he felt he had been treated unfairly, not just with regard to this trial, but in the last “half-decade”. I wondered if that was a reference to him being side-lined by the Xhosas. He reaffirmed his loyalty to the ANC. But let’s see what comes of this, but you never know what might grow out of this which will come back to bite the ANC in the future. Jan]