WHERE does President Jacob Zuma go now, after Babygate, the crystal-clear thumbs down it earned him from his own allies, and, then, to follow it up, an extremely poor State of the Nation speech? He will have to pull the proverbial rabbit out of his hat. But where is it ? If the country didn’t at least suspect it might be putting a flat tyre into the Presidency last year, it knows better now.

Zuma’s calls to action in Parliament last Thursday night, his promises to deliver accountable government, are empty. That’s partly because of the rotten example the ANC leadership already sets on governance and corruption. And partly because too many of the ministers he picked to help him run the country are simply incapable of doing their jobs. Not now. Not ever.

The Zuma speech was followed (on eNews at least) by an excruciating interview with Collins Chabane, the Minister in the Presidency responsible for performance managing the Government. He was doing his best to try to insist that yes, indeed, government was on the very verge of being held to account but that the, um, paperwork was not quite ready.

When he was asked when the performance contracts for ministers might be ready I swear he said something like “by the end of this week” Considering that it was already 9pm on Thursday night, what he meant to say was “tomorrow”.You have to laugh. But even if that is true, Collins only meant that the performance criteria for each minister had finally been drawn up. Now, as is the case with all performance contracts, he has to go to each minister with the putative contract in hand and negotiate their agreement to it. Some might be about to find out for the first time exactly what it is that they are supposed to be doing.

It reminds me of the early nineties in Spain, when the government tried to introduce breathalyser testing. Public opinion was so hostile they were forced to make taking a breath test voluntary!

The whole exersize is a recipe for producing meaningless agreements that commit ministers to little more than trying their best. It is like running the country out of a Human Resources seminar. At the very least, each agreement should be made public. As is the case with all these stupid performance contracts, there also has to be a column for how your performance is to be measured. Even worse, you have to have a column for saying whether you need any additional training to help you perform. And if it turns out you fail, there has to be an agreement on remedial measures you will take.

So, the touching faith in performace contracts aside, where will Zuma find his rabbit? It is in himself, of course. He must find, inside himself and on his own, the courage to lead. To make hard decisions on his own that will make him enemies. He must appoint a CEO at Transnet, make a decision about the nationalisation ‘debate’. He can make history and not be merely swept along by it. Thabo Mbeki, for all his faults, had that courage.

I remember people teasing me for saying we would miss Mbeki one day. I will wait another few months before making up my own mind about the Zuma term but, right now, I have to say I cannot think of a single respect in which Zuma has proved to be an improvement on Mbeki, even if you include Mbeki’s disgraceful handling of the Selebi affair and his egotistical decision not to stand aside and allow someone else to take on Zuma at Polokwane.

Zuma can see now, as he stands alone, how shallow political friendships can be. It’s just about you, Mr Zuma. Only you can save yourself and your reputation. Make no mistake sir, your term is in big trouble and it is entirely your own fault.

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