STEVEN FRIEDMAN
Sometimes, the best thing politicians can do to take a society forward is – nothing. This reality is key to understanding the prosecution on corruption charges of the secretary-general of South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC), Ace Magashule.
Magashule, a leader in the ANC faction which supported former president Jacob Zuma, is the highest-ranking politician besides Zuma himself to face charges of misusing public trust. The prosecution stems from lengthy investigations into “state capture”, the use of government power to serve private ends.
Much of the media, business and the public debate have been urging his prosecution and that of other Zuma allies; they now have what they wanted, a signal that highly placed politicians are not above the law.
Inevitably, the prosecution has not pleased Magashule and his faction: their reaction has prompted claims that they are about to fight back by unseating President Cyril Ramaphosa.
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