Do we finally have the leverage to force President Zuma to step down as President and force the ANC to give South Africa new leadership?

Let's be honest President Zuma's presidency has not proved to be very good for South Africa. I think that is putting in the most restrained way possible. The list of his "mistakes" and their negative consequences have been well publicized and are far too numerous to list here.

His leadership has even proved to be detrimental to the party he leads. Under his leadership the ANC has seen rival parties split off (COPE and the EFF). The tri-partite alliance has crumbled and the ANC is likely to lose many of the Municipalities they currently control. Their national support has slipped to the lowest point since coming to power in 1994.

However, whatever we think of him, he has proven to be a politician of skill and determination. He masterminded an internal coup within the party to come to power and every attack on his stronghold of power has failed ignominiously. Any attempt to impeach him has seen him rally his cronies, hard won by patronage, and crush it.

He has said that he will only vacate his office after his second term in 2019. The constitution limits him to two terms however his respect for the constitution is questionable.

Whether South Africa can endure a further 3 years of his mismanagement is doubtful. We are in need of new leadership and we need it now.

Previously there has been no incentive for Zuma to leave. The only real threat to him has been the possibility of a parliamentary "vote of no confidence" and impeachment succeeding. The ANC majority meant that the likelihood of that was non existent.

The last few months, however, have seen two significant reversals of fortune for Zuma and a possible third one on the horizon.

1. The Constitutional Court found that President Zuma failed to uphold the constitution in The Nkandla matter and that he should be personally liable for the costs of some of the upgrades to his personal residence. The amount to be determined by the Treasury. The amount has been set at R7.8 million.

2. The South African courts set aside the National Prosecuting Authority's decision to withdraw the hundreds of fraud and corruption charges against Zuma. The High Court in Pretoria made it clear that this effectively meant that the charges had been reinstated.

3. The Public Prosecutor has been given the all clear to investigate State Capture by Zuma's close companions, the Gupta family. The blowback from this could be tremendous.

All this means that for the first we, the South African public have leverage. Now it's certainly not clear whether what is proposed below is possible however it would be interesting to see if these ideas gain traction and become part of the national dialogue.

Let us face certain truths.

1. Getting the money out of Zuma is going to be difficult. He and his family have already pleaded poverty. It will likely cost the country a lot of money before we see any of it.

2. Prosecuting Zuma for the numerous counts of fraud and corruption that have recently been reinstated is similarly going to cost us millions and furthermore will take many years to reach resolution.

Politics and law is often about compromise. Maybe there is a compromise to be reached in this situation and mayb it's time to make President Zuma an offer he can't refuse.

In exchange for his:

1. Immediate resignation from office and retirement from politics

2. Full co-operation with investigators regarding the reinstated fraud and corruption charges specifically full disclosure of the identities of corrupt officials involved.

3. Full co-operation and disclosure to the Public Protector regarding dealings the Gupta Family has had with the Government.

a. South Africa will write off the R7.8 million he has been ordered to pay. In effect we will consider the book on Nkandla closed.

b, South Africa will grant him immunity on all charges recently reinstated.