Mr Mashele, a University-of-Pretoria-Lecturer (The Republic of South Africa) five months ago wrote the following
masterpiece that HE titled...
...“The fading dignity that’s Zuma”
(By Prince Mashele)
[2012 STATE OF THE NATION’S ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT ZUMA]
In a 1749 book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, that continues to
influence serious minds, the great Adam Smith said:
“They are the most frivolous and superficial of
mankind only those who can be much delighted with
that praise which they themselves know to be
altogether unmerited.”
“They are the most frivolous and superficial of
mankind only those who can be much delighted with
that praise which they themselves know to be
altogether unmerited.”
For those who live in
South Africa today, how courageous are we to tell the truth that exposes the
ugly side of our public affairs? Or, are we content to remain silent as our
politicians continue to hear that praise which they know to be unmerited?
In an open society,
such as the one we claim to live in, citizens ought not [to
have waited for February 2012] when some leader delivers what he and
his mind elect to project as the state of our nation.
[IS DEMOCRACY A VEILED AUTOCRACY?]
It cannot be that our collective life as a people is reduced to that which is reflected in the mind of an allegedly intelligent, single person. The appraisal of the health or ill-health of nations ought to be an on-going responsibility of an engaged and spirited citizenry.
Those who disagree
with this sublime idea must be counted rightly among tyrants.
[BRIEF POPULAR POLITICAL HISTORY
OF ZUMA]
What, then, does the
open eye of an honest biographer see when staring at President Jacob Zuma? Three qualities present
themselves: a fading dignity, instability in government and an image of
corruption.
Before he was
installed as president, the image of Zuma
evolved from a fairly obscure leader of the ANC who was catapulted to greater
heights due to the role he played in KwaZulu-Natal peace talks.
Time has now
presented concrete evidence that Thabo
Mbeki was wrong in appointing the
then-deputy president Zuma to be the
champion of South Africa’s moral regeneration. In all honesty, Zuma was a pleasure-loving deputy
president.
Ironically, Zuma’s image was rescued by Mbeki when he dismissed him from his
administration under a dark cloud of corruption. Propelled by a powerful wave
of expectant factions, Zuma the
insignificant thus became Zuma the
heroic victim.
[ZUMA THE DANCER]
Indeed, Zuma danced and sang all the way to
Polokwane in 2007. Sexy musicians who are fortunate to have a flexible waist
also grabbed the rare opportunity to get down on stage with a
president-in-waiting.
As Zuma was busy performing, crowds were
worked up against intellectuals, especially those with the audacity to tell the
truth. A mob psychology fell upon many in our country like the biblical demons
that madly drove pigs into the sea.
How did these pigs survive the Biblical drowning, Mr Mashele? (LOL!) |
[DANCING AND RULING MUST BE TWO DIFFERENT KETTLES OF FISH]
Anxious to present
himself as different from Mbeki, Zuma allowed some twisted minds in his
inner kitchen to advise him to introduce new portfolios into cabinet.
Even as South Africa
was in the eye of a global economic storm, the new president did not hesitate
to pour more money into more ministries.
Those who suggested
this was a waste of money were treated like howling dogs that disturb the
tranquility of sleepers at night. Such words as “monitoring”, “evaluation”,
“planning”, and “jobs” became fashionable.
It has now become
evident that these words are as hollow as the Ministry of Women, Children and
People with Disability has become laughable. Incoherence in government is as
rife as the disgruntlement of many civil servants is the order of the day.
A president is to a
nation what a father is to a family. A family that is headed by a well-known
drunk cannot escape the disgrace of its head. And so is a nation headed by
someone without dignity.
[THE
POST-POLOKWANE EMERGENCY REPACKAGING OF ZUMA]
As image managers
were working hard to repackage Zuma
from a dancer to a president, he fathered a child out of wedlock.
Indeed, warnings
continue to circulate that those who have daughters should not invite their
male friends into their homes; else a friend can transform himself easily into
a son-in-law.
As the nation was
recovering from the disgrace of our father, Zuma made key appointments that left observers wondering if he
cared about the dignity of government. Our new chief justice is perhaps an
important signal that the president would prefer the judiciary to be populated
by people like him.
[JACOB ZUMA THE ARCH-CHARMER]
In the beginning, Zuma embarked on a roadshow, meeting
all manner of interest groups and telling them exactly what they wanted to
hear. For a brief period, the president was a friend of all, except those who
cannot easily be duped. A mischievous fellow at a meeting with Jews even asked
if Zuma would accept if offered a
Jewish wife – and the president giggled.
[JACOB ZUMA AND THE ANTICIPATED DISAPPEARING
ACT]
It increasingly felt
like South Africa was without a president.
If you saw him on
SABC, it would be a choreographed episode where he was trying very hard to
sound serious.
One such interview
was when he was asked by a deferring journalist why South Africa needed a
national plan. Zuma answered:
“We need a plan that says this is the plan.”
“We need a plan that says this is the plan.”
[DEADWOOD AND INSTABILITY PERSONIFIED]
Truth be told, Zuma’s administration is the most unstable since 1994. How many directors-general has he changed since becoming president?
So unstable has Zuma’s government been that senior officials in his government exchanged insulting open letters in public with ministers.
Zuma changes spokesmen as if there is no
tomorrow. While we were still getting used to the first, fairly talented young
man, we were introduced to a known young hollow tin that was quickly replaced
with a recycled and tired old man.
At the political
level, Zuma reshuffled his cabinet
only two years into office.
While his spin
doctors battled to make us believe that it was a sign of a president who is
serious about performance, only Karl
Marx knows what ministers like Blade
Nzimande have delivered since they were appointed.
In Zuma’s government, a “non-performing”
minister or official is never fired, but promoted. They either become his
advisors in Parliament or they are sent to represent us as our ambassadors
abroad.
If a minister is sick
and has a cloud of unbelievable corruption hanging over his head, some
questionable version of “African” morality is used to justify why taxpayers
should continue paying a salary to such a minister.
[QUESTIONS OF CONDONED CORRUPTION UNDER JACOB ZUMA’S WATCH]
An image is now cemented in the public mind that the government is corrupt.
This, again, goes
back to the image of the president himself – as someone who was never cleared
of corruption in a court of law.
Thus people are not surprised when he does not act when there are allegations of corruption.
Thus people are not surprised when he does not act when there are allegations of corruption.
Allegations of
corruption involving members of his family have not assisted our beloved
president.
As we were about to
believe that Schabir Shaik was
terminally ill and fast approaching death, we woke up to yet more allegations
involving the Guptas.
If a survey were to
be conducted “Who do you trust between Jacob
Zuma and the Public Protector?” Thuli
Madonsela might appear like an angel, and Zuma may not be permitted to enter heaven, where he believes ANC
ancestors to be resting . Bheki Cele
and Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde have
become ghosts that haunt the soul of Zuma’s
government.
[BIRD’S EYE-VIEW FROM MANDELA TO
ZUMA]
How far, then, have
we come since 1994?
We moved from a
people inspired by Nelson Mandela to build a rainbow
nation.
We then entered a
period of cerebral enthusiasm under Mbeki,
and landed in a country of confusion under Zuma.
Nobody knows whether we are coming or going. Maybe it will be clearer after
December 2012.
Anyone who finds this
assessment unfair should pose the question: if Jacob Zuma were a standard of leadership, would you like to live in
a country led by a president worse than Zuma? If Jacob Zuma were a trophy, would you
hoist him to the rest of the world and say “Here is our best as South
Africans”?
Such is the story of Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, the
popular dancer and 100-percent-Zulu-Boy,
who rose from nothing to become our country’s No 1. It is a story that reveals
a nation’s troubled mind, and a people whose
pride has been dented.
How it will all end,
only God knows.
Hopefully, none will
react to all this in a way that reminds us of what Adam Smith wrote 262 years
ago.
Prince Mashele lectures politics at the University of
Pretoria and is a member of the Midrand Group. He is the author of The Death of Our Society (available at Exclusive Books).
[all that I as this
writer and blogger Phiri can say is "How fresh and relevant Mashele's scripting still is! To ameliorate and enrich reading otherwise unaccustomed to South Africa, solely I, Phiri, added the links and the subtitles to an otherwise word-for-word penmanship from the aforesaid lecturer]
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