Maybe it was just a harmless aside that means absolutely nothing. Still, when I read that South Africa’s Kgalema Motlanthe recently said that Jacob Zuma would drop out of the race for the presidency if he thought it for the best for the country, my jaw dropped.
Motlanthe was asked on Tuesday night by an audience member at an ANC rally in Lenasia (south of Johannesburg) if Motlanthe’s continuing as president would not be better for the country than Zuma given Zuma’s corruption charges. Motlanthe gave a spirited defense of Zuma. But then he said “We know that without any doubt in my mind, that if, at whatever point, he believes that the interests of the ANC and the country can better be served by his stepping down, he will be the first one to say so.”
One wonders whether Zuma has even vaguely entertained the idea of ever standing down. And one wonders whether Motlanthe’s assertion, couched in the terms of vigorous support for Zuma, does not represent something of a trial balloon.
