A common refrain especially in Africa is that national leaders aren’t just anyone to be subjected to the rule of law; that they are entitled to special rights and pervasive privileges. In some countries like Botswana, a state president enjoys absolute immunity from prosecution in both private and official capacity.
That being the case, Africa has been witnessing a trend in adopting the American system of informally addressing former Head of States using the title [President so and so or Mr president] reserved for the current head of state.
Whereas the standard practice in most African countries has been to use the title ‘former president’ as the correct form to refer to an ex-president, there is a growing intent to afford ex-presidents the honor of the title of the president, most likely to ensure that such persons retain their importance in society and aren’t just anyone.
This importance in society has not been limited to the title but has been made to manifest in various ways to underscore the point that former presidents aren’t just anyone. That has tended to give them the impression that they are and should be above the law.
When in 2020, the influential and strongman President Vladimir Putin signed a law granting former Russian Presidents immunity for the entirety of their lives so that they cannot be arrested, searched, questioned or prosecuted, I feared for Africa.
This is because I figured that most African leaders were going to initiate a raft of Putin-inspired constitutional amendments to expand their immunity from prosecution and make it impossible to revoke a former president’s immunity to ensure that they evade accountability for what they did or neglected to do during their time in office.
It is a fact that while a few African countries have been democratizing, most have been reverting to authoritarian regimes. For instance, not long ago the Botswana state has sought to muzzle and collapse the private media critical of government by among others intimidating journalists and diverting advertisement revenue away from the private media. These are indeed warning signs of backsliding even though such actions may not readily get classified as unlawful or unconstitutional.
Whereas other African countries fiddled with their national constitutions to fast-track authoritarianism, Botswana adopted a rather soft approach that wouldn’t readily be recognized as acts from the authoritarian playbook, yet they served authoritarian rule.
But there is always some hope in the dark. Former South African President Jacob Zuma’s incarceration for contempt of court that brought his political journey full circle carries a huge significance for our national leaders which is that everyone should and will be held accountable and subject to the rule of law.
After being sentenced to jail for contempt, former president Jacob Zuma, cheered on by his fiery sons and brilliant thugs with own agenda, remained defiant stating that he was going to jail.
The former president possibly couldn’t imagine that after sacrificing a good part of his life to the liberation struggle and after almost 10 years as the first citizen, and still enjoying top rate state protection, he could be turned into a high profile convict just for refusing to answer questions from some fellas in wigs.
Nevertheless, after his boisterous attempt to take the South African nation to the brink, the ex-president landed in a correctional facility as a villain. His exuberant defiant and the fiery rhetoric of his sons, some opportunistic and criminal-minded followers and tribesmen were overrun by the rule of law and turned into an object of public humiliation.
In many ways than one, the capture and incarceration of the erstwhile South African strongman of the vociferous Zulu tribe should act as a warning to sitting and former presidents who allow themselves to be intoxicated by their powers and the fiery rhetoric of loyal buffoons who think brandishing sticks would protect them against trained military personnel in weapons of war.
Africa is littered with countless bogus, half-men who are, by all means, the male versions of slay queens who enter politics and bulldoze their way to becoming state presidents just to loot the national treasury for personal gain.
Once such elements are in office, they use public monies to finance a life of luxuries at the expense of their citizens which is why we have such Palaces as Nkandla (for former South African president Jacob Zuma) and Mosu (for Botswana’s former president Ian Khama) both which are luxurious private homesteads allegedly funded from the public purse.
Many sitting and former presidents in Africa have always found it difficult to steer clear of controversies and a series of scandals involving the use of public monies. However, it has always proved very difficult to prosecute such people often because of the doctrine of immunity for the president, which is why most state presidents in Africa vigorously resist retirement preferring to remain in office and enjoy immunity until they die.
Those who leave office after serving the maximum of their constitutional terms often manipulate the order of succession such that they elevate their trusted puppets to the highest office for protection against any future prosecution.
For instance, toward the end of his leadership of the ANC and country, then President Jacob Zuma publicly supported former wife, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for the presidency of the ANC apparently because Mr Zuma reckoned that if elected as ANC president and subsequently became the state president, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma would surely shield him from future prosecution for his misdemeanors.
In Botswana, former president Dr Khama ensured that for the final stretch of his presidency, his preferred successor was installed as his deputy and the heir to the throne in accordance with Botswana’s automatic succession law, for the same reasons former South African president Jacob Zuma preferred his ex-wife for the presidency of the ANC and country.
Unfortunately, Dr Khama’s preferred successor and current president Dr Masisi apparently reneged on his promise that actually made him president, in the process infuriating the former president so much that he (former president Dr Khama) resigned from his father’s ruling party, the BDP, to form his own opposition party solely to remove his erstwhile preferred successor for not keeping his promise.
It is a fact that former president Dr Khama has gone on record saying that he will not rest until his successor has been removed from office possibly because he feels betrayed, vulnerable and is now clearly frightened.
Thus, former South African President Jacob Zuma’s fall from grace is a stark reminder that no matter how a president or a former president is popular with the masses; no matter how much efforts they invest in manipulating the order of succession; no matter how much they review national constitutions in order that they remain in power to secure protection against prosecution; no matter how many political opponents they slaughter; no matter how many times one may elude the legal system; no matter how many times one runs to the UN agencies to besmirch the incumbent and cry political persecution, the long arm of the law would finally noose and hood the fugitives for execution, the Chinese style.
Former South African president Jacob Zuma’s jail time is a cruel reminder that fame and power, whether political, traditional or whatever, is not absolute or all-conquering. His imprisonment is a warning to political celebrities, absolute monarchies and despots that fame, power and title cannot guarantee lifelong immunity and privilege.
In the same lines, his on-going trial for a series of corrupt activities and his imprisonment for the much lesser offence of disobeying a court order should send a clear message to African strongmen that they can run, hide, delay their detention, incite unsuspecting followers and petty shop lifters or manipulate political and judicial systems but they cannot escape ultimate accountability for their actions.
Nevertheless, they can still save themselves from Zuma-like public humiliation by coming forward to confess their crimes and plead for pardon rather than wait to become early Christmas present for the amorous bad boys of the slammer.
Always remember this warning, ‘be sure your sin will find you out’ (Numbers 32:23).
