'ZUMA'S -*SOUTH AFRICAN*- MESS'

CAPE TOWN : Jacob Zuma resigned many Thursdays ago as the president of South Africa after his party, the African National Congress, pressured him to step down-

A year and a half before his second term would end in the summer of  2019.

Mr. Zuma's nine-year tenure was marked by corruption, mismanagement and numerous scandals , and the country's reputation and economy took a real terrible battering.

He retrofitted state institutions to divert resources to his family and his business partners. At currents estimates, the amount of public money that has been appropriated runs into billions of dollars.

He staffed the prosecution authority and the police service with supplicants who dared not go after him and his cronies. He threw out the top management of the tax collection authority and replaced them with his own people, partly to avoid being persecuted for tax evasion.

After a mighty battle,  the A.N.C turned against Mr. Zuma and he resigned from office. His successor Mr. Ramaphosa, has announced that that the period of darkness is coming to an end.

South Africa is a country saturated in the politics of race. A measure of the impact Mr. Zuma's tenure had on relationships between  black and white  South Africans is necessary. The white minority lost  political power  nearly a  quarter-century  ago, but its influence in the economy, in the professions and in the culture of the country's institutions is immense.

white political power is gone, but the white gaze remains pervasive. Some argue that the abhorrence the  Zuma  presidency  has broken the spell of race.

Almost all of those who lead the campaign to bring him down were black, like Thuli Madonesia, the former public protector, who played a  heroic role  in exposing Mr. Zuma's corruption.

South Africa's judiciary, which is majority black, defended the  independence of the courts with extraordinary courage and under great pressure.

After this display of  black courage , why would it matter what white people think?

But  South Africa  is too fraught and complex a place for such simple story to ring true. More plausible is that each  pinprick  penetrating Mr. Zuma's skin is felt by black South Africans, even those who are horrified by what he has done.

The Honor and Serving of the latest Global Operational Research on Corruption and Corrupt Leaders continues to Part 2. !WOW! thanks author and researcher Jonny Steinberg.