What is it with African Presidents? All too frequently, incumbents and their predecessors tend to squabble – to put it mildly – over all manner of issues. South Africa is no exception, with the protagonists in the latest drama being President Cyril Ramaphosa and the man those who are big on clan endearments prefer to call Msholozi.

Msholozi, whose birth name is Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma and who was South Africa’s State President from 2009 until he was unceremoniously recalled (a euphemism for ‘fired’) by his political party in February 2018, is a highly litigious fellow. Now he has launched a bid to privately prosecute Ramaphosa, whom he accuses of being an “accessory after the fact” with respect to the alleged leaking by a prosecutor and a journalist of his confidential medical information that had been submitted to a court where he has been appearing in connection with his alleged involvement in corrupt activities.

That there is no love lost between these political heavyweights had been apparent before the latest bust-up. No so long ago, Ramaphosa took the unusual step of describing the African National Congress (ANC) as “accused Number 1” when it comes to corruption, whereupon Zuma penned a private letter in which he hit out at his successor. “Mr President, it is unforgivable to label our rank and file members as criminals for the crimes you and those with whom you serve in the structures of the State are accused of,” Zuma stated in the letter, which was leaked to journalists.

Zuma also didn’t seem to have a cordial relationship with his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, who was forced to leave office prematurely in 2008. That must have hurt Mbeki deeply. He sulked, becoming conspicuous by his absence at major State and ANC events for years.

In Botswana, it did not take long before the current President, Mokgweetsi Masisi, and the man he replaced, Ian Khama, were at each other’s throats. The spat resulted in Khama quitting the ruling Botswana Democratic Party in 2019. Now a warrant has been issued for Khama’s arrest, with prosecutors accusing him of failing to appear in court in April last year to answer charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and receiving stolen property.

Commentators have warned that, should it continue, the Khama-Masisi feud could destabilise Botswana, a country long known for its political stability.

In our neck of the woods, other prominent fallouts between an incoming President and his predecessor have played out in Malawi, Zambia and Angola. Those of us who are older would recall how, in 2004, Malawi President Bakili Muluzi handpicked Bingu wa Mutharika, from outside his party, to succeed him. Instead of returning the favour, Wa Mutharika had Muluzi arrested two years later on charges of diverting donor funds totalling $12-million into his personal bank account.

Following pretty much the Malawi script, Zambian authorities arrested Frederick Chiluba, President from 1991 to 2001, in February 2003, accusing him of corruption, theft of public funds and abuse of State resources. The President at the time was Levy Mwanawasa, whose ascendancy to the top job Chiluba had facilitated. But Chiluba was having a taste of his own medicine, actually. When his electoral victory in 1991 ended Kenneth Kaunda’s 27-year rule, Chiluba did not waste time in persecuting the founding President. Absurdly, he attempted to have Kaunda stripped of his Zambian citizenship on the grounds that his parents were Malawian immigrants.

In Angola, the current President, Joao Lourenco, almost immediately went after the infamously corrupt family of his predecessor. In my view, this was justified ruthlessness. We don’t want Presidents who turn State coffers into their families’ piggy banks.