Maybe it is time to take stock. On 9 May Mr Jacob Zuma will be elected by the National Assembly as South Africa’s fourth democratic President. As a loyal and proud South African I will show respect to the office of the President, even if I continue to exercise my right and my duty as a citizen to point out the ideological and moral faults of Mr Zuma the person.
It is a remarkable achievement for South Africa that Mr Zuma will be the fourth person serving as President in just over fifteen years of our democracy. We must always be grateful to him and to the ANC for firmly rejecting the notion that one person has a right to continue serving as President of the majority party and South Africa – even after his two terms as President has expired.
When others cowered and shied away from the fight with then President Thabo Mbeki, Zuma stood up to him and provided the ANC with the excuse to get rid of a highly intelligent but deeply flawed man. If he only serves one term as President – as he promised – this will further entrench the principle that individual Presidents come and go – even as the political parties they serve continue to gain support from the voters.
We must always remember that Mr Zuma helped us get rid of Thabo Mbeki, whose faults Fikile Mbalula spelt out so clearly (if visciously) in his recent open letter to the previous President.
As a proud and loyal citizen I will keep an open mind about Mr Zuma’s abilities as President. If he manages to govern in a different way than he ran for office, he might even come to earn my respect – if not trust.
If he takes decisive steps to restore trust in our democratic institutions like Parliament, the Intelligence Services, the NPA and the Chapter 9 institutions, I will cheer him on. If he stops attacking the Constitutional Court and stops questioning the Constitution, I will be quietly satisfied. No more weird statements about “criminals” (by which he means accused persons considered innocent until proven guilty by a court) having too many rights, homosexuals deserving to be beaten up and the evils of sex on television.
If he can get the ANC to turn away from some of its anti-poor policies and can help it to govern in a less arrogant and dismissive way, I will salute him too.
If the ANC-led municipalities like that of Johannesburg can be persuaded to stop installing water meters for poor households, thus in effect cutting off the water supply of some of the most vulnerable members of society, I will be very happy.
If the national housing department reviews its policy to move people like the informal settlers from Joe Skovo to far away Delft under the guise of upgrading their housing opportunities, only to make the new houses available only to those who can pay rent of R3000 a month, I will cheer them on. A housing policy that takes the needs of people as the starting point and not as a nuisance to be managed or wished away, will make a welcome change from the present attitude.
If corruption is seriously tackled – not only in words but also deeds – and corrupt state officials are prosecuted and if they are members of the ANC expelled from the party, I will rejoice. No more shoulder high escorts to prison for criminals like Toni Yengeni. No more excuses for people charged with corruption like Jackie Selebi. Let’s stop this scourge of corruption that eats away at the ability of the state to deliver to the poor.
If he re-appoints a caring and efficient Barbara Hogan as Minister of Health and calls the MEC’s of Health in Provinces like the Free State to account for not managing their budgets, for placing a moratorium on the expansion of the ARV programme, and thus for condemning thirty people a month to death, I will praise his leadership.
If he talks publicly about HIV and AIDS and how we need to care for people living with HIV, how we must all protect ourselves by wearing a condom (no showers necessary then), how this will show that we have really embraced the dignity promised by our Constitution, it will take my breath away.
And if he instructs his Minister of Correctional Services to have the decision to release Schabir Shaik on medical parole reviewed, he would show that he really believes that all are equal before the law and that even his friends have to subject themselves to the law and the legal processess.
If he then institutes a full and independent commission of inquiry into the arms deal, announcing that this arms deal has become a cancer destroying the ANC and the country, and promises a full amnesty for anyone who comes clean about their involvement in the arms deal, it would deeply impressed me. If he then spoke candidly about his own relationship with Shaik and Thompson CSF, it would take my breath away.
Will this happen? Probably not. But I love my country and I hate always having to be so negative, so for one day I am going to dream that all this will come to pass and that in five years time South Africa will be a far better country to live in – especially for the poor and the vulnerable.
If he does only half of the things you list, he’ll be remembered as one of the greatest South Africans ever, and we will all wonder how we got him so wrong.
If….
And I hope we have all been wrong about him. We will just have to wait and see what he actually does once he is elected.
For once a positive posting. All these problems you mention were caused by Mbeki & his arrogance. That’s why he was removed. The great, unwashed, illeterate masses saw right through him & elected Zuma. If JZ does not perform, he will also be removed. In SA we have to stop believing individuals are God. That is why in the ANC we say no one is bigger than the organisation. I think that the rest of the country should adopt the same attitude- no one is bigger than the country!
DREAM ON.
So many oxymoron’s this articles looks like it was written by an ox-y-moron.
DREAM ON.
Positive post Prof! My breath is always taken away when I see a what I chose to call “positive intellectualism”. The intelegentsia has a constructive way to play in the country. I want to thank you for your open mind to the Zuma presidency prof – thatz all we ask. Trust me, even us – especially from the alliance, we are waiting with keen, yet open minded interest, what Cde Zuma would do for the workers and the poor when elected as president. Which is why we (me, Ozone, Mdu and millions of others in the country) have, and indeed continue, to feel insulted by insinuations that we support Jacob Zuma because we are “simply just stupid”. We will make noise when he goes out of line of course, but still bearing in mind that he is no angel like none of us is!
Wow, “Comrade” Prof (as they say in the political world”, this is one of the best posts I have ever read from you. I am just as positive as you are that JZ may turn out to be a great president!
Spread the positivity Prof!
I find it amazing that “positive” is the new “good” and “negative” is the new bad.
There are objective issues of truth and untruth, right and wrong that we have been debating, and the place of law in society. And yet, there seems to be a greater enthusiasm amongst some for subjective values like loyalty and being positive.
To spell it out, if something is “wrong”, and one does not speak out or criticise, for fear of being “negative”, then one is condoning that wrong.
But adherence to ideas of right and wrong has been replaced by adherence to a person or a party. The deep irony is that opposition to the favoured or anointed provokes such outrage amongst supporters, but they have no philosophical basis for calling something “wrong”.
Tutu had it right when he said that the ANC is not God – because, when the person or party is elevated to being the supreme object of loyalty, then they have become a god.
Amen to all of that.
Good post Pierre.
But just for the record and to dispel the myth that I’m a paid ANC hack – I’m voting for Paricia de Lille this time. It is payback time for one of the few politicians who according to me has risen above party politics and has demonstrated that despite all the negative propaganda parliament is relevant and that you don’t have to count on a 70% majority to participate in and make a meaningful contribution in a democracy.
Is it not funny and surreal that for Pierre to get general approval for a post, he had to remove himself from what is real?
Pierre has basically said, I am shutting my eyes and I will construct an unreal situation, just to find anything positive about the impending Msholozi presidency.
I say this is very condescending of him.
Madoda, Pierre is not being positive. He has just ignored what he perceives as reality.
Spuy, I say Pierre has just proven why many people say the supporters of the impending presidency are, as you say – “simply just stupid”.
Thanks prof for exposing the dream world of some of the bloggers here.
Suddenly the suspension of reality by you has exposed the dream they live in.
I too dream that we are all wrong about the logic. But then I wake up!
Martin Luther King would’ve been proud with this version of his dream. … Khosi, the mere fact that you are saying “dream on”, implies that what Prof De Vos (and others) yearns for in this dream, never existed, not even under your beloved Thabo Mbeki, and will never exist – which, of course unmasks the ANC as the new oppressor ‘apartheid style’. … Any way – why have you been silent for so long?
“Will this happen? Probably not.”
it is clear that even the Prof. doubts a JZ presidency will be a major success(or reasonably successful) Mr Zuma has made many flops and actions, in his utterances we all know he is talented in saying one thing and doing the exact opposite
it does seem like a done deal that he will be Prez so the Prof is just like some us preparing for the rollercoaster…
Mouse, my buddy, where have YOU been? Good to hear from you!
I have been following the blog, quietly. Pierre’s deceitfulness brought me out.
We were being positive yesterday.
We are responsible for constructively engaging with our politicians and each other.
We must continue to ‘pester, bite and nag’.
Willem Heath said yesterday that “The silence and the apathy of practitioners in South Africa after the announcement by advocate Mpshe is deafening.”
That isn’t true. And whichever side we fall on, we should make our voices thicker so he knows it.
And let’s not lose our ID documents between now and Wednesday…
all i can say is good luck and best of wishes for wednesday to south africa.
being positve, one can look at citizens across the world have already voted……so your constitution is still strong your citizens still have a voice to be heard and thats only good.
I’d say the odds are possible on a few issues but actually highly unlikely. However, we know JZ desires to be loved and admired and so tries to please everyone. Will that translate into the fulfillment of portions of your dream once the power is his? Miracles do happen.
Many folks I know are actually frightened of what an ANC victory will portend, as in really frightened, not simply worried, and I’m not referring to whites who seem to be taking it with a grain of salt. “Its Africa”, they say. However, at the grassroots level in my community there are real fears not based on corruption or issues of law, but rather having your daughters hauled off to a youth concentration camp for indoctrination when they fall pregnant, and the police, who they fear already, wearing heavy boots and carrying an even heavier stick.
JZ has not just acted in a questionable manner throughout his rise, but he has made very scary comments. Its no wonder the country is on edge.
I hope Prof you are not backing down on critising the government and it leaders. As much as we disagree on certain issues I hope that this article, piece, informs us that we must start debating issues that directly affect us and the poor. We must concentrate on things we can change. Should Zuma not meet his duties and obligations to the republic I hope you will be out there making the noises where it is due. I will defiantly criticise him should he not perform.
Prof, I think you have captured the thoughts of quite a large proportion of South Africa’s population.
This is what constructive politics looks like, Ms Zille (aka Tony Leon II), please take note!
I am however doubtful if these dreams will actually happen, but at the same time Zuma cannot be worse than Mbeki and am a bit of an optimist, so perhaps all those (swart gevaar) dooms day prophets are a little bit premature.
The fact of the matter is that Zuma is going to be our next president, “there is a Zulu on my stoep” indeed.
For South Africa’s sake I really really hope he does make a good president.
I think it is unnecessary for me to comment on this article save to correct a few notions that some consider facts (notwithstanding the facts to the contrary). This relates specifically to your below comment:
“We must always be grateful to him and to the ANC for firmly rejecting the notion that one person has a right to continue serving as President of the majority party and South Africa – even after his two terms as President has expired”.
I was one of those who supported Mbeki for a third term as ANC president, partly because all other ANC “leaders” were too craven to stand against Zuma and the alliance manufactured by Vavi, the Vula Durban clique, and Kebble’s ANCYL. Not once did anyone, but the turn-coat Hlongwane, suggest a “right” or “notion” of any person serving more than two terms as ANC president or president of the country. Apropos the aforegoing, it is worth noting that Tambo served more than two terms, in keeping with the desires and needs of ANC members and that Mbeki indicated more than once that a third term as President of the republic was out of the question. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4684752.stm.
I am therefore of the view that your gratefulness is misplaced. Perhaps it would be more accurate and honest if you forthrightly were “grateful” for the dislodgment from power of a leader you despised for whatever reason. Lastly, I recall that at the time the media and their fellow-travelers were engaged in an anti-Mbeki campaign and were very happy when the fellow was defeated. Lore and behold, it was but a pyrrhic victory for the media and we must now all live with the consequences.
Yippeee!! I’ll have a burger, fries and a pink unicorn with that.
Thomas, not to worry! I think being in Vietnam at a conference and hearing all the Afro-pessimistic ramblings of some Europeans and Americans about SA made me a bit light in the head. I will continue to ask hard questions. One just gets tired of being negative and moaning all the time so I thought I;ll trty and set out my vision for what a succesful Zuma Presidency might look like.
Vuyo
I think this is exactly what TM normally refers to when he talks about the “deliberate untruths”. Anyone who cares about the truth knows that TM never haboured any intentions to serve a third term as the President of the Republic. I know this because he said so on many occassions. Your point about Tambo is correct and there is nothing wrong with it because the ANC at the time (and during the Polokwane Conference) did not have any prohibition on more than two terms. Indeed, the issue of two terms relates to the Republic and not the ANC. Once again, the likes of Prof find it so easy to conflate the ANC and the Republic whenever it suits them and cry foul when someone from the ANC does the same thing. Prof, read the ANC Constitution, it might help you.
For the record (and this is where I differ with Vuyo and Khosi) I have always maintained that TM’s decision to run at Polokwane was ill-advised, just like I’ve always felt that JZ should not have run either. Had the two gents decided to forget their personal interests, I strongly believe that Dr Dandala would not be a Presidential candidate today!
Great post Prof. in many ways. It is very nice when we as South Africans start to look at the ways in which we can ameliorate our country and the fate of the poorest of the poor amongst us.
Well, the best thing about this posting is that everyone seems to agree that Pierre’s list of ideal outcomes is a pretty good list indeed.
None of us knows whether JZ will accomplish these things–we all have to wait.
Some of us feel that his past actions indicate that this is unlikely, others feel that his past actions were necessary to get to the point where he could make the attempt.
Let’s all agree that the ANC (not just JZ) needs to do these things, and that the time for excuses is past, and action and progress needs to begin now. For better or worse, JZ is the one who must act, who must lead the ANC to take forceful action.
And it is the role of all the readers of this column to hold them to account–that is the proper role of citizens.
Enjoy your dream while the going’s good, Prof. JZ isn’t going to do any of those nice things you’re hoping for: he’ll be busy with other stuff.
Beneath that warm, smiley, aim-to-please facade there lurks a cruel, vindinctive megalomaniac who will run South Africa along the lines of Camp Quattro. A new verse will be added to his favourite song in which he will call for a pair of pliers, with which he intends to crush the testicles of those who are against him. Such as Dikgang Moseneke.
So he’s promised to rule for only one term? Sure, but his new constitution will stipulate the length of that term as 33 years, after which he plans to retire at age 100.
Buya Thabo Mbeki: where are you now, when we need you the most?
Very nice piece of satire there Prof. Cleverly written
But I dont see it as a postive article at all. It seems to me you have specifically chosen the actions/reforms that president JZ would be most unlikey to effect ,and are determined to use those as a yardstick.
In that same breath you have also managed to highlight all JZs past mistakes while maintaining a veil of “positive hope for the future”.
You also say “If he can get the ANC to turn away from some of its anti-poor policies…I will salute him too.”
Which pro-poor policies are you referring to, whose abolishement will have you saluting JZ?
Vuyo, I did not say there was a law against Mbeki standing for a third term as ANC president. But I agree with many that it was a monumental mistake on his part that he did. It showed hubris and the kind of attitude which made his presidency such a disaster and it has probably now for always tarnished what legacy he might have had. Victors write history and Thabo is now a loser….. I did not say that he would change the constitution to stand for a third term as President (although we now will never know – many politicians, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinto has lied about standing for public office). But why then satnd for president of the ANC? Why not leave the field open to the many capable candidates who could have taken on JZ? Like Thatcher and many other politicians he probably started believing that only he could steer the country on the right course by making sure his preferred candidate whom he could influence would get elected as the third president of democractic SA. This was morally depraved and tactically disasterous.
As we have heard, Mr Zuma said the following, “If I sit here and I look at the chief justice of the Constitutional Court, that is the ultimate authority. I think we need to look at it, because I don’t think we should have people who are almost like God in a democracy. Why? Are they not human beings?”.
Do I detect a cooking vessel and a water-heating container here?
Mr Zuma clearly does not believe that there really is a God. And this is why I am affronted that he ;plays to the religious gallery so much. I suggest that he should read the story of King Herod.
Maybe Jacob Zuma would be a good president.
And maybe monkeys would fly out of my butt.
Pierre de Vos // Apr 18, 2009 at 9:06 am
Vuyo is absolutely right.
Your established line of reason is that – ‘had Mbeki not run for the third term, Zuma may not be ANC president’. This in itself is so far from being proven that it borders on the delusional. Looking at what happened to Tokyo Sexwale, Zuma would have gone to Polokwane unopposed.
Sexwale case proves clearly what Vuyo is saying, that no one in that organization could have run against Jacob Zuma successfully. And I will go so far as saying Mbeki was very aware that his chances of success were worse than those of Zuma but chose to run anyway. WHY run if you know you will lose, is the next natural question. Well, the answer to that lies in what Mbeki himself has said, and I quote: –
“The person who does good, and does it honestly, must expect to be overpowered by the forces of evil. But it would be incorrect not to do good just because you know death is coming.”
For me that quote is definitive of Mbeki’s legacy. You then pompously say that ‘history is written by victors and Mbeki is now a loser’. Boet, that rubbish does not hold in the information age. Me, you, Vuyo, Rat and anyone who has interest in Mbeki is writing history, everyday, as we blog and speak. That privilege is not left just to victors and the privileged anymore.
Had Mbeki chosen not to follow the call from the ANC branches, JZ would have walked Polokwane UNOPPOSED and the nation would not have looked critically at what our next president has in store for us. By running he prodded us into critiquing our future leaders and not giving our liberator the unchallenged authority on the matter. The results of his Polokwane loss and his subsequent removal from office, made us question things like never before and left us with a much more vibrant democratic society. COPE would not exist had Mbeki not run in Polokwane and any self respecting democrat would agree that COPE has been a good medicine to our democratic dispensation. That is the gift that he left for this nation, wittingly or unwittingly.
And that martyrdom is what I believe will become one of the recognizable highlights of his legacy.
Jacob Zuma’s statement about constitutional judges, alone, is reason enough for us ask what it was that Mbeki saw in his successor that made him go to the lengths he did. Chalkalson and Bizos have both said that Mbeki has done nothing to undermine the judiciary. He respected its decisions even when the decisions were against his government. Not once has he ever threaten the freedom of the media. Media has, freely, been critical and satirical of him, and all he did was to exercise his right to reply when critiqued. If you think that this will not change, I say, my friend, CONTINUE DREAMING.
Succint summary of events in the NYT.
Thehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/world/africa/19zuma.html?hpw
rather –
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/world/africa/19zuma.html?hpw
Peter // Apr 18, 2009 at 7:54 pm
“The crucial tape recordings were made by the National Intelligence Agency while working on a different investigation. How did Mr. Zuma’s lawyers obtain them? How can that breach of security not involve a crime?”
Again the focus is on the messenger and not he message.
It is typical of the popular hypocrisy surrounding Zuma: on the one hand we have the pseudo-moralistic, anti-legalistic viewpoint that “Zuma should welcome”, nay, invite his day in court to “prove his innocence” – on the other hand we have the exact opposite : to stick to procedure and the “rule of law” as described by the formalistic doctrine of “inadmissible evidence”.
Hey O3,
You have summed it up for me.
There are a lot of theorists around here. I am not sure how many have been taken to court for whatever. Well I have – more than once (unjustifiably) – and I can tell you my lawyers and I fought with everything legal we had – facts, evidence, process, procedure .. constitution etc. How the hell do you differentiate between a good lawyer and a good litigator., although the two not necessarily need to be different.
I mean – why the hell wouldn’t you. Do you give it your best shot or do you play cat and mouse with a process which does not even give you a chance to be reviewed by your peers in a jury.
When you go to court or you are taken to court – you arrive to win – no more no less. Until you have been there as a defendant please ….
(By the way I think Zuma is guilty – but what the heck..)
If Zuma heeds this post, then South Africa will be a better place for all.
He’s like Windows 7, actually…
Thabo Mbeki made many mistakes during his presidency, and was indeed a deeply flawed President.
But I do not believe that he is more flawed than Jacob Zuma.
And I have to agree with Khosi, not once under TM’s presidency have I ever felt that our constiutional democracy and media freedom are under threat. This despite the fact that during his term of office many judgments went against his government and he was criticised extensively in the press. When it came to the press he always just hit back by presenting his side of the story – however wrong we perceived his side to be.
Mr. Zuma’s recent uterances about the Constitutional Court and the role of the Chief Justice have made me more than just a bit uneasy.
I often viewed the uterances made by Julius Malema and Gwede Mantashe regarding the judiciary in isolation and did not really think that they were any indication that the rule of law was under threat.
But if you take of all of these utterances together, they do represent a trend that I think is a cause for concern.
Bruno, you are wrong. You seem not to understand that even lawyers and Judge Presidents must have ethics. A crime was committed. You are saying it is ok to defend yourself in court by commiting a crime. That is really very, very, wrongheaded. Example: you are saying, in effect, if someone accuses me of rape, I can just hire a hitman to kill the witnesses and I am off the hook and it would be legitimate. Surely not?
Pierre,
It was not what I was saying – you should absolutely not commit a crime in your legal defence.
I was saying that as an accused you go to court where your legal team represents your best interests. Going to court is a win – lose situation, not win – win.
Unfortunately this does lead sometimes to the guilty walking free however the process hopefully limits that.
I cannot speak to judges ethics because I don’t know any. I do however know lots of lawyers whose ethics are influenced dramatically by the need to win a case – especially when they are contingency based cases. Read money.
I know I am rambling but the above is borne out by the ratio of not guilty pleas versus guilty pleas – and the resultant ratio of not guilty pleas resulting in guilty findings eventually.
OZ – your argument contains a fundamental contradiction. You want Zuma to get off the hook because the evidence against him is inadmissable, but you are happy to use inadmissable evidence to prove this (and to summarily find all sorts of poeple guilty of illegal conspiracies)?
Unless the NIA actively scans all its intelligence to see whether it could assist the cases of all accused persons, we have a horrible abuse of state institutions taking place.
Die koel is deur die kerk and we all now have to live with the smelly mess that the once great ANC has single-handidly created. Hopefully many, like yourself, will indicate to the ANC that they take a dim view by not voting for them.
Here’s an idea.
Lets manufacture a few million low cost, extremely durable little appliances with which to access the internet.
And then lets hand them out free in townships.
Srlsly.
Yes, Johan and then all the people who resides there takes this device and type http://www.constitutionallyspeaking.co.za into the address bar. Great idea
Pardon my cynicism there, I was caught up in a little dreaming of my own and before I knew it, it was a nightmare, just wiping the sweat out of my eyes now.
Thing is a lot of people who reside in townships cannot read, they get their information by word of mouth, by a group of friends, a social framework of people living a simple life. Knowledge of the outside world, comes from other people. This is how a lot of us came to the knowledge of things like the moon landing and Hiroshima without having to read. Without attatching attributes to a group of people that shares certain biological resemblence or who mearly resides within the same area I think one can say there are certain individuals or groups that conveys information to the said people. If this is true then the only way how it could be significant or relevant is to know that these individuals, who none of us really know, is able to cast a vote that could change our way of life, our comfort zone where you are the determiner of your own destiny, the boss if you will. (if you look at the percentage of people with internet on this planet, and you deduct that you have and they don’t) The question is then whether the information that gets diverted here is accurate or not and this is where my hostility with the likes of mr O3 and so comes in. How do I know who to vote for if this is my background?
I’m probably wrong, all 20 mil voters are maybe literate, maybe even very clever, maybe I just refuse to believe that O3 has friends, I don’t know, but I’m willing to talk about it even if someone makes a monkey of me, it’s alright, my name is friend.
khosi // Apr 18, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Brilliant post, Khosi.
Pigs will fly! Maybe Pres Zuma can get his cadres at the JHB city council to reply to my rates query? Despite 3 registered letters and numerous phone calls nada nothing niks. I am not holding my breath. I expect more of the same.