Comments on: Give Zuma a chance?

By: S'phamandla Mchunu

S'phamandla Mchunu — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 09:38:00 +0000

Just curioulsly…are these submissions not mere implications of an overwhelming ANC victory in the elections? I am, after all…just curious.

By: Wessel van Rensburg (AKA mhambi)

Wessel van Rensburg (AKA mhambi) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 10:51:12 +0000

Lesbian rape in SA is THE hot topic in the UK.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/13/south-africa-corrective-rape

By: Wessel van Rensburg (AKA mhambi)

Wessel van Rensburg (AKA mhambi) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:28:02 +0000

And in other news the traffic on my blog goes through the roof. All fro the UK.

The reason, the buzz caused by TV reports of the rape of lesbians in our country and the police’s failure to arrest anybody.

By: Musa

Musa — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:10:42 +0000

Vuyo thank you very much for your immense contribution and clarity of thought. Khosi you also deserve a pat on the back. It is sad that Pierre has a myriad of facts about what is/was wrong with Thabo Mbeki. The same dictator the ANC managed to replace with impunity and never called his cohorts to rise up against his tormentors. The same cadre of the ANC when he was recalled has not even once put the ANC into disrepute by offering an opinion on his recall. Instead he chose to be silent and allowed all of us to speculate. He has not even resigned from the same party that humiliated him. The same man who had the guts to stand up for Tutu when the president of Cosas demanded the sexual history of his elder. The one voice in high echelons of power who challenged the insensitive violations of Manto Msimango’s dignity when her private medical records were published for the amusements and gratification of her detractors. When Zuma says the ANC takes decisions as a collective I think we should believe him. This makes sense since he has not come up with any policy positions which contradicts the ANC’s except for the death penalty comment that there is nothing wrong to subject that policy position to a referundum. Again Zuma was with Mbeki for 30 years, together they steered the ANC in exile and after liberation. Both have chosen not to explain exactly what devided them although Mbeki still insists that this question still needs to be pursued. Vuyo has given some probable answers to the question. Now the current period of purging has infact left the ANC open to abuse because it has slowly eroded this wonderful thing of collective decision making in the party. The very things you accused Thabo Mbeki about will be worser if this ANC strength is abandoned for “cliques”. I hope that never happens because we will definately all rue the day we allowed the hounding out of office of a sitting President without a whimper. Suggesting that it is a sign of a maturing democracy we need not worry about anything. I now realise that we still need to debate more about the Mbeki era and ensure we separate fact from fiction!

By: Pierre De Vos

Pierre De Vos — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:14:47 +0000

Mzo, I hope you are right……

By: Mzo

Mzo — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:08:56 +0000

Pierre De Vos // Mar 13, 2009 at 11:15 am

I agree with Khosi, you seem to be making a very dangerous proposition that TM made virtually all the decisions for the ANC and everyone else who was in leadership at the time (including JZ, Kgalema etc) just did not have the balls to challenge him. With respect, that is giving TM too much credit.

By: Friend

Friend — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:57:51 +0000

Logical deduction, mousie

By: Chris Mcdaniel

Chris Mcdaniel — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:09:06 +0000

I got a question, im alittle confused on something…maybe someone can enlighten me….

I just read R1 million a month?! is being spent on Zuma’s security.

1) Is Zuma a government official?
2) What is the difference between Zuma and Lekota?
becuase if i can remember the anc was blasting Lekota about his body guards, “why does he need body gaurds is he under threat?”
3) How is it a white woman (Zillie) and a woman of color (de Lille) seem to be more safer than a black man in south africa im sure they have some sort of protection but alot less than R1m on body guards seems to suggest they are clearly not under threat?
4) Zuma being the man of the people and a populist with the mass’s of the people who would want to hurt him or threaten him?

one can critizes me on Obama but lets face it Obama was the first candidate to receive Secret Service protection before he was the official party choice and earlier than any other candidate not to mention a level of protection unprecedented for any other candidate. There’s good reason for it. As the first African-American candidate with a realistic chance of becoming President, Obama faced a high level of threats to his personal safety and now that he has won the election

By: Tatera

Tatera — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:53:31 +0000

There are no facts, only interpretations.
– -Friedrich Nietzsche

By: khosi

khosi — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:41:43 +0000

@Pierre,

I think you are trying to be conspicuous in you rebuttal of what Vuyo is, as a matter of fact, saying. What Vuyo is saying is that, Mbeki was the embodiment of all the collective decision of the ANC. It did not matter whose views prevailed in that decision, Mbeki represented and defended the ANC in whatever decision, that the ANC collective took.

What you are, as a matter of illicit persuasion, trying to imply is that because Mbeki was powerful, all the decisions that the ANC took were, in actual fact, Mbeki decisions disguised as ANC decisions. It is the same mentality that informs many when they claim that the ANC has done a lot to improve the lives of people but the country is in a mess because of Thabo Mbeki.

I am not too sure that you can present facts that support your supposition. If you can please, by all means, please do. If you cannot, lets just stick to Vuyo’s version of the Facts of the Matter.

P.S. I am glad that you are now saying that Mbeki is a forceful debater and not a ‘dictator who shut down debate’. Vuyo, there is progress on this front.