The day Jacob Zuma will never forget

The late Grammy-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and philosopher, George Calin once said, “never underestimate the power of 'stupid' people in large groups.” I am sure Mr. Calin could have witnessed an incident or occasion that made him utter these sentiments. 

 The famed quote materialized into my psyche when part of the crowd that gathered at Nelson Mandela's memorial service held at FNB stadium in Johannesburg to pay their last respects to a leader who curbed them from apartheid, booed and scoffed off their leader President Jacob Zuma in his own country and in front of a global television audience let alone in the presence of world’s most powerful leaders. 

I am not labeling whoever contributed to the booing of Zuma a stupid because that would be out of context, but i rather envied to feature this quote with regards to how influential a large group can be irrespective of what names we call them. 

   
One would say the jeering and that kind of “mental attitude” exhibited by South Africans who thronged at this renowned event, which is thought to be the largest since Winston Churchill's 1965 state funeral, was ill-timed and uncalled for.

I beg to differ with anyone whose line of thinking rests in the above sentiments taking into consideration quite a number of aspects that materialised the kind of embarrassment President Zuma encountered on a day that he was meant to boost the his party's (ANC) political mileage ahead of the country's general elections in the coming six months. 

The aggressive reception granted Mr Zuma is a clear reflection that South Africans had always wanted an opportunity where they would clearly tell their leader there were not a happy people hence they had to capitalise on that illustrious event.

Mandela’s passing on came so soon after contentions such as Nkandla and the government’s refusal to shift on the broadly rejected e-toll payment strategy for upgrades to Gauteng’s highway system. 

 

While this was the first international event at which Mr Zuma was booed, it is not the first time South Africans have called for him to be recalled from his post. The Democratic Alliance threatened to call for Mr Zuma’s impeachment after the Mail & Guardian printed extracts from Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s draft report on the Nkandla saga. Ms Madonsela tentatively found Mr Zuma had misled Parliament and profited considerably from about R20m worth of work that had nothing to do with security features at his home, including a swimming pool. 

 

The crucial aspect to note about yesterday is how representative were the people who booed? If they did represent the view of many, then the message is that its high time the president should practice self introspection, not that citizens must behave in a way the elite group wants tantamount to what happens in other countries where the credibility of a leader is is not directly questioned but rather the masses hide behind the media for fear of being silenced.

Its common knowledge that Mandela had carefully managed the anger and frustration of the oppressor and the oppressed in South Africa’s transition to democracy. He had also never hesitated to speak his mind, no matter who he was speaking to, or how uncomfortable his words may have been to his listener. It is in line with this background that part of the crowd that gathered on that day did not hesitate to speak their mind to their president whom they have many a times accused of corruption and poor administration.

Mr. Zuma was wrong if he took his people for granted, not to mention undermining them and tag them a 'stupid' people because such cannot happen in a country like South Africa where civilians are not afraid to independently express their feelings to anyone despite their race, political affiliation, gender you name it. 

Lets not forget that this is also election season and people would believe that (the memorial) is a platform to express themselves and to say that everyone who behaved in that manner should be ignored is a huge mistake.

Democracy is a system of rules in which, if masses want to boo a sitting president at a memorial, they can freely do that without interference and this is what happened to Zuma yesterday in sharp contrast to the cheers that greeted his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, and the vast cheers for US President Barack Obama, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and even for former apartheid president FW de Klerk. 

 

People cannot celebrate Madiba's contribution to achieving democracy and at the same time scold people for exercising the rights which democracy brings. That day was a warning for Zuma to act up and put his house in order, the crowd spoke and that was something one should not ignore hence he (Zuma) should walk the talk. 

 

Presidential Spokesperson Mac Maharaj shrugged off the booing and maintained that Zuma remained a popular leader. He might have wanted to dampen the humiliation by saying, "It passed – in four minutes it was over, and it didn't happen again," and that "we will not take a small event and make it into a crisis in our democracy," but the fact is that his boss and the world over realised that his (Zuma's) popularity was fast becoming a history let alone loosing credibility in the country's politics.

Twitter handle: @AnoShumba

Where are the leaders of our time?

 Where are the leaders of our time?...The Mandelas, the Ghandis, the Kwame Nkhrumas, the Martin Luther Kings, the Joshua Nkomo, the Josiah Tongogara, Edgar Tekere...etc? Are all gone...All we have left with are their quotes and speeches that we love to recite and quote but never put into practice ...Are we a generation of cowards? Or is it because the issues those great leaders stood for are no longer a part of our struggle? Are we truelly a free generation? Are we no longer oppressed? Or has globalization made us blind to think we are living in a globalised world where we are all equal? Or has the technology of our time and the journalism of our time distracted us from the real struggles? This is food for thought!

Twitter handle: @AnoShumba

SA's big three!

Three provinces contribute overwhelmingly to turning the country’s wheels. They come to the fore in more ways than one.

Together, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape occupy only 20% of the total land area of South Africa. But Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, the country’s most populous provinces, account for more than 40% of the total population. Higher levels of urbanisation are also evident, with Gauteng having as many as three of South Africa’s eight metropolitan areas. The United Nations also ranks Johannesburg and Cape Town (located in Gauteng and the Western Cape) seventh and eighth respectively among the ten most populous cities in Africa.

Gauteng alone accounts for more than a third of total South African gross domestic product. The fi nance sector is the single largest contributor to the economies of the three provinces. Manufacturing and trade also
account for significant shares of economic activity. Almost two thirds of all employed people and just over 70% of individual taxpayers are registered in the three provinces combined. Gauteng and the Western Cape have the lowest ratios of people who do not work and are dependent on those that are employed.

Educational outcomes are also significantly better in these areas. The proportions of adults with no education are lowest in Gauteng and the Western Cape. Those that are literate and have higher education are also
most likely to be living in these two provinces. The proportion of people who have attained grade 12 is also relatively high in KwaZulu-Natal.

People in Gauteng and the Western Cape are also better placed to afford medical aid and are more likely, because of their education levels and income status, to have better nutrition levels. Not surprisingly, many of South Africa’s internal and international migrants head for Gauteng and the Western Cape. Statistics South Africa’s estimates for the period 2006-11 indicate that most of the people moving out of the Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the North West, and the Northern Cape headed for Gauteng. Those from the Eastern Cape largely chose to move to the Western Cape.

The data presented in this article bears witness to the disparities between the provinces. An improvement in the fortunes of poorer provinces would certainly help to ease the burden borne by better performing ones.

Courstesy of South African Institute of Race Relations

Twitter handle: @AnoShumba