Zuma Must Go!

From the moment the Constitutional Court ruled that the President had violated the Constitution in the Nkandla matter, cries of “Zuma must go!” have been resounding throughout the country. What started out years ago as a rumble has now become a roar, and the volume is getting louder and louder as ANC stalwarts, opposition members of parliament, religious leaders, business heavyweights, trade unionists, journalists, and common people join their voices. Pressure is mounting and the ANC establishment is feeling the heat, uttering threats, and forming a laager. I have a sense that the pressure will continue to mount until something gives . . . until Zuma goes!

These are critical days for our country . . . more critical than we perhaps realise. What should the church of our Lord Jesus Christ be doing at a time like this?

• I think we should thank God for a Public Protector and a bench of Constitutional Court judges who have displayed such amazing wisdom, integrity, and courage.
• I think we should thank God for significant members of the ruling party who have had the courage to break ranks and speak out against the corruption and decay in the party.
• I think we should thank God for an opposition in parliament that is becoming more united and vocal, and that there exists the freedom for them to speak out (and shout out!) the way they do. In many countries around the world this could not happen.
• I think we should thank God that the importance of the Constitution and the necessity of all citizens adhering to it is being highlighted in the national consciousness.
• I think we should be adding our voices and our feet in peaceful protest against a corrupt and unacceptable status quo.
• And, of course, we should be praying. Hard! Scripture says,
  

  “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” 1 Timothy 2:1-4

While we want Zuma to go, and we may think he should go now, we must in all of this recognise the overarching sovereignty of our God who says,

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” Isaiah 55:8-9

And we must

“acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes” Daniel 4:25b

On these truths we must rest while we protest and pray.

The wise words of Bible scholar D. A. Carson have unavoidable application to South Africa:

“We should not be embarrassed by the blessing of God on integrity and righteousness. Righteousness exalts a nation: it lifts it up and strengthens its hand. This is not merely a sociological inference: it is the way God has structured things, the way he providentially rules. Inversely, corruption attracts the wrath of God, and sooner or later it will bring a nation down.”