I have a growing sense that as a nation, South Africa is heading towards a knife edge. In just a few months Zuma goes to trail (in which the prosecutors are calling over 200 witnesses). A few months thereafter, we go to the polls to vote for a new president (during which the president-elect will still be standing trial for corruption). As recipes go, this does not bode well for a peaceful transition between power regimes.

Now, lest we forget, we were on a knife-edge of considerable proportions about 14 years ago. "On the brink of civil war" might be a closer proximation of the state of the nation in 1994. The avergae South African, when asked about 1994 will say two things: 1) it was a miracle that we had a peaceful transition into democracy, and that 2) we had an amazing person at the helm (Mandela) to lead us through the transition.

If we had to draw the two knife-edges into parallel, and ask who will be the leader who will draw our nation away from the knife-edge in the months to come? At this point in time we have Mbeki and Zuma in a position to do this. Do I foresee either of them providing the moral fibre and direction to our country needed to see us through the next year? Unfortunately not. Neither of them have the moral fibre and resounding character to assure a nation that Mandela possesses so naturally.