With the whole country waiting tentatively to see what will happen with the upcoming national elections it is a sense of being unsure that seems to be prevalent.
Questions abound, will the ANC still win with the current legal situation the party president finds himself in?
Will Jacob Zuma be granted a permanent stay of prosecution?
Will he be spending alot of his possible Presidency facing criminal charges in court?
And of course how will this strange situation affect South Africa and it’s people?
Many foreign countries and investors will view this in a very negative way because if Jacob Zuma is elected and then later convicted it would cause a massive upheaval in the country. South Africa has a well known problem with fraud and corruption and having a President that has been convicted of such crimes may just spell the end of foreign investors.
Also if the charges were somehow dismissed they would never the less remain with Mr Zuma long into his presidency. He would be known as the president who was above the law, who managed to escape prison by being a presidential candidate.
South Africa is already starting to feel the effects of the global financial crisis and one wonders how a huge political scandal would push us closer towards total loss of investor confidence. The property market is not yet showing major improvement and now there is also the very real possibility of major job losses as companies try and save themselves financially.
I suppose again we can only wait and see what will happen over the next year and hope for the best. What are your views on the subject, maybe there is a positive slant to this that isn’t very obvious. Let us know what you think.
