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