The scene outside former president Nelson Mandela’s Johannesburg home was quiet on Tuesday morning, as the ailing icon entered his fourth day in a Pretoria hospital.
Several journalists milled around on the street corner opposite the Houghton house drinking coffee and talking among themselves, with portable broadcasting equipment and cameras nearby.
Johannesburg metro police officers, with two cars posted up the street, told journalists to park on the outside lawns of nearby houses instead of on the road.
Curious members of the public slowed down to survey the scene as they drove past.
Local and international media also continued to camp outside the Pretoria hospital where Mandela was believed to have been admitted.
Security at the facility had been tightened as police officers were called in to man the two entrances.
The main entrance to the hospital in Arcadia was guarded by several police officers.
All vehicles entering the facility were checked and searched.
Barricades were erected at the spot where journalists had been camping on Monday forcing the press to move across the street.
Police tape was used to cordon off the area.
Mandela was admitted to hospital in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The presidency at the time said he was in a “serious but stable” condition.
On Monday, the presidency said Mandela’s condition was “unchanged”.
“President Jacob Zuma reiterates his call for South Africa to pray for Madiba and the family during this time.”
Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said Mandela was receiving intensive care.
African National Congress MP and Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela had been at the hospital on Monday.
This is the third time this year the Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been in hospital.
At the end of March and in April this year he spent nine days in hospital receiving treatment for recurring lung problems.
Earlier in March, he was admitted to a Pretoria hospital for a scheduled check-up and discharged the following day. – Sapa
A fence was erected on Monday evening next to one of the entrances of the Pretoria hospital where former President Nelson Mandela was believed to be.
Police officers set up the barrier where numerous journalists had been camped out, close to a busy street in Arcadia. Tshwane metro police officers ordered journalists to move their cars.
There was speculation that President Jacob Zuma was expected to arrive at the hospital.
Around 10 uniformed policemen stood at the entrance, along with officers in civilian clothes. Several police cars were driven into and out of the hospital. All vehicles entering the hospital premises were inspected.
Earlier on Monday presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said Mandela was receiving intensive care.
“Today the doctors are saying his condition is unchanged,” he told reporters from his office at the Union Buildings.
“He is under expert attention and they [doctors] are doing everything to keep him comfortable.” Maharaj said a report in The Star suggesting the Mandela family had barred ANC and government officials from visiting Madiba was unfortunate.
“It’s very unfortunate that one particular newspaper chose to run with that as a headline. I’ve read that report and it has no single source it attributes to, except three unnamed sources.
“There are restrictions which arise from the fact that Madiba is under intensive care. Those are medical restrictions to control movement of people [to exclude the] possibility of visitors bringing infection into the environment,” said Maharaj.
The Star newspaper reported that the Mandela family had taken charge of the 94-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner’s hospital stay, banning everyone, including government leaders and senior party officials, from visiting him.
The African National Congress on Monday said it was unaware of this.
Maharaj confirmed Zuma was scheduled to visit Mandela in hospital, but did not say when.
“As head of state, president Zuma will visit at the appropriate time. We just want Madiba to get better.” ANC MP and Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, had also been at the hospital. – Sapa
Journalists waiting for news during a previous Mandela hospitalisation
Former president Nelson Mandela is receiving intensive care at a Pretoria hospital, presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said on Monday.
“Today the doctors are saying his condition is unchanged,” he told reporters from his office at the Union Buildings.
“He is under expert attention and they [doctors] are doing everything to keep him comfortable.”
Maharaj said a report in The Star suggesting the Mandela family had barred the ANC and government from visiting Madiba were unfortunate.
“There is no substance to that. It’s very unfortunate that one particular newspaper chose to run with that as a headline. I’ve read that report and it has no single source it attributes to, except three unnamed sources.
“There are restrictions which arise from the fact that Madiba is under intensive care. Those are medical restrictions to control movement of people [to exclude the] possibility of visitors bringing infection into the environment,” said Maharaj.
The Star newspaper reported that the Mandela family had taken charge of the 94-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner’s hospital stay, banning everyone, including government leaders and senior party officials, from visiting him.
The African National Congress on Monday said it was unaware of this.
Maharaj said President Jacob Zuma was scheduled to visit Mandela in hospital, but did not say when.
“His [Zuma’s] focus now is to allow the medical team every opportunity to concentrate on their job. To allow the closest relatives to go there and be close to him. As head of state, president Zuma will visit at the appropriate time. We just want Madiba to get better.”
ANC MP and Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, had been at the hospital.
Maharaj said the 48 hours between Saturday to Monday, when there was no update on Mandela’s health, was caused by the lack of progress on the elder statesman’s health.
“You would not want a repetition of the same thing over and over. I know you want him to get better, but we can’t give you good news if it’s false. We can’t give you bad news when it’s not true.
Local and international journalists spent the day outside the two entrances to the Pretoria hospital where Mandela was believed to be. Security guards had been posted at the entrances.
More than 10 broadcast vans were there. Some journalists had erected small tents and others had generators. Passers-by stopped to ask about Mandela. – Sapa
In comments that he made to mark the 20th anniversary of Chris Hani’s assassination, President Zuma alluded to the recent debate regarding the impact of apartheid on the current problems confronting South Africa.
He said that “to suggest we cannot blame apartheid for what is happening in our country now, I think is a mistake, to say the least. We don’t need to indicate what it is apartheid did. The fact that the country is two in one – you go to any city, there is a beautiful part and squatters on the other side – this is not the making of democracy and we can’t stop blaming those who caused it.”
“While wanting to see change happening fast in every corner of the country, we are under no illusion that South Africa will automatically and comprehensively change in only 20 years. That is impossible. The legacy of apartheid runs too deep and too far back for the democratic administration to reverse it in so short a period.”
President Zuma’s remarks were a repetition of what has become a central refrain in ANC communication: that the legacy of the past – i.e. apartheid or “colonialism of a special kind” – is responsible for the triple crisis of inequality, unemployment and poverty. The remarks are usually accompanied by simplistic comparisons between whites who live in the “beautiful part” and blacks who live “on the other side.”
We are all the products of our past – and there can be no doubt that apartheid created serious distortions in the normal development process that black South Africans would otherwise have experienced. However, the roots of inequality and poverty are far more complex than that. They include, in particular, lack of access to decent education, employment and effective government services – all factors that have been within the sphere of government policy since 1994.
The inequality that characterised our society in 1994 may certainly be ascribed to the complex legacies of the past. However, the fact that, 19 years later, we are an even more unequal society is the consequence of the failure of government policy. Unacceptable levels of inequality have their roots – among other things – in:
the dismal performance of our education system caused overwhelmingly by government mismanagement and the depredations of SADTU;
the fact that almost 40% of black South Africans are unemployed – primarily as a result of rigid labour policies; policies and attitudes that discourage foreign and domestic investment and the refusal of COSATU to countenance competition in freer labour markets;
the inability of government to deliver decent services – which is attested to by service delivery protests throughout the country almost on a daily basis; and
the implementation of inappropriate policies to promote equality – which have greatly benefited the top 10% of the black population – but which have done nothing for the bottom 60%.
Attempts to blame these failures on “apartheid” will simply divert government and public attention from the urgent need to implement the kind of realistic solutions called for in the National Development Plan. They also serve intentionally or unintentionally to stir up racial animosities that we simply cannot afford. When President Zuma says that “we cannot stop blaming those who caused it”, he is playing the very dangerous game of making whites the racial scapegoats for the manifest failures of his own government.
The reality is that many of the beautiful parts to which President Zuma refers are now increasingly inhabited by the emerging black elite and middle class. In 1995 whites accounted for 69% of those in the top earnings decile. By 2007 their share had diminished to 43%. By now it will be even smaller. The nature of the squatter camps is also changing: several are now inhabited by impoverished whites. The country may be “two in one” as President Zuma observes but they can no longer be simplistically characterised as ‘rich white’ and ‘poor black’.
Clearly we South Africans need to engage one another in frank discussions about the legacy of the past, the challenges of the present and our vision for the future.
There is no contradiction between what President Jacob Zuma and Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel have said about the legacy of apartheid, the presidency said on Thursday.
“Stating that the apartheid legacy and impact still exists and will linger on for a long time does not mean that the president is saying that public servants should use it to excuse laziness and incompetence,” spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement.
“The point President Zuma made is that it is impossible to reverse the legacy of apartheid in only 20 years.”
During a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the 20 years since SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani was killed, Zuma commented on the statement that the government should stop blaming apartheid for its faults.
“To suggest we cannot blame apartheid for what is happening in our country now, I think is a mistake, to say the least,” he said, in an apparent reference to the comments made by Manuel.
“We don’t need to indicate what it is apartheid did. The fact that the country is two in one — you go to any city, there is a beautiful part and squatters on the other side — this is not the making of democracy and we can’t stop blaming those who caused it,” said Zuma.
Speaking to reporters on the sideline of a government leadership summit last week, Manuel said the government should take responsibility for its actions when it came to service delivery.
“We [the government] should no longer say it’s apartheid’s fault.
“We should get up every morning and recognise we have responsibility. There is no longer the Botha regime looking over our shoulder. We are responsible ourselves.”
Addressing public servants at the summit earlier, Manuel said the government had run out of excuses and had failed the people of South Africa repeatedly in terms of service delivery.
“We cannot continue to blame apartheid for our failings as a state,” he said in speech prepared for delivery.
“We cannot plead ignorance or inexperience. For almost two decades, the public has been patient in the face of mediocre services. The time for change, for ruthless focus on implementation has come.”
SACP deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin reportedly said on Thursday that Manuel’s comments were taken out of context.
Cronin said Manuel’s remarks were intended to encourage civil servants to be proactive in delivering services.
During the wreath-laying, Zuma said: “While wanting to see change happening fast in every corner of the country, we are under no illusion that South Africa will automatically and comprehensively change in only 20 years. That is impossible.”
However, Zuma said as leaders of public servants, the government had to work harder, faster and more efficiently to ensure true freedom reached the poor and working class in a shorter time.
Maharaj said Manuel had also emphasised this.
“The impact of 300 years of apartheid and colonialism will be felt for many years to come, and since 1994 government has been working to reverse it. However, stating this fact, does not excuse laziness and inefficiency,” Maharaj said.
Opposition parties seemed to agree with Manuel’s comments that the government needed to take responsibility.
The Democratic Alliance said even though the material legacy of apartheid lived on, the slow rate of delivery could not be blamed on apartheid but on the government.
“The truth is that government has not delivered on these objectives fast enough,” DA national spokesman Mmusi Maimane said in a statement.
“Too many people still suffer from apartheid’s material legacy.”
He said Zuma should take responsibility for this and focus on improving service delivery so that the country could combat the evil legacy of apartheid.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said although apartheid would be an important reminder of what not to do, the time was over for the ANC-led government to blame its failures on apartheid.
“Government has to take full responsibility for its failures and scandals such as the dysfunctional education system, the crumbling infrastructure, Sarafina II, the arms deal, the oilgate and Nkandlagate scandals, the [Andries] Tatane and Marikana incidents as well as the Central African Republic fiasco, among others,” he said. – Sapa
The campaign to fight violence against women and children must be waged by all South Africans, black and white. In addition, no single cultural group can or should be blamed for this serious scourge which affects all sectors of society.
The Presidency has noted comments attributed to Minister of Women, Children and Persons with Disability, Ms LuluXingwana. Clarity from the Ministry has not yet been obtained with regards to the comments.
We wish to assure the Afrikaner community and all South Africans that government’s commitment to non-racialism and diversity as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic,remains unwavering.
The contribution of Afrikaner males in the fight against gender-based violence and also generally to the building of a united, caring and prosperous South Africa, is as valuable as that of all South Africans. The nation should focus energies on finding solutions.
South African President Jacob Zuma said on Monday that mining companies were almost engaging in “blackmail” when they announce plans to close mines and lay off workers.
Zuma’s pre-recorded comments broadcast on CNBC Africa come as the government, unions and ruling African National Congress have come out strongly against proposals by Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) to mothball two mines and lay off 14,000 workers as it strives to return to profit.
“When the miners say we are cutting down, we are closing … You see, that is almost blackmail,” Zuma said.
Zuma also said “lower wages in the mining industry has led us into trouble.”
South Africa’s platinum and gold sectors were rocked last year by violent strikes and labour violence that killed over 50 people and hit output.
Amplats, the world’s top platinum producer, said on Monday it had made its first annual loss last year because of the strikes and warned of growing labour unrest.
Zuma’s remarks coincide with an investor conference on mining in Africa being held this week in Cape Town.
Separately, Mines Minister Susan Shabangu told the conference proposals by the ruling ANC to introduce a “resource tax” would be carried out with an intent to keep South Africa competitive among other major mining countries.
“We’ve got to compete with Australia and Canada. So if there are any taxes which must be implemented we must be mindful,” she said. – Reuters
President Jacob Zuma congratulated South African-born actress Charlize Theron on Wednesday for scooping the World Economic Forum’s crystal award for her humanitarian work.
“We are proud of our Charlize,” Zuma said in a statement.
“She has succeeded in an extremely competitive environment, and is a visible and hardworking ambassador for her country.”
The Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project finances programs designed to prevent the spread of HIV among young Africans, particularly in South Africa.
The programs include mobile health services in an impoverished region of South Africa.
Zuma said he met Theron on the sidelines of the conference in Switzerland on Wednesday, and she briefed him on her work.
“I assured her that South Africans love her and wish her all the best,” he said.
“We wish her success in every venture she undertakes.”
The award was presented to her on Tuesday night.
Last year, the award went to South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka, who was recognised for “using her art to improve the state of the world”. – Sapa
South African police prevented the country’s anti-nationalist opposition leader from using a public road leading to President Jacob Zuma’s house in his home village on Sunday, citing valid safety concerns.
DA invasion bore a strong resemblance to its youth subsidy march to Cosatu House in Johannesburg earlier this year. Their campaign, in May, resulted in a bruising street battle when Cosatu members attacked DA supporters and ended in injuries.
South African media have reported the government plans to spend some 250 million rand ($28.61 million) on President Jacob Zuma’s home village, angering the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) which had wanted to deliver letters from school children who lack textbooks, to illustrate where money should be spent.
Police in riot gear turned back DA leader Helen Zille and a small group of supporters on their way to inspect Zuma’s residence in the village of Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal province.
“We will not allow the ANC to declare certain areas “no-go zones” in our country,” Zille said in a statement after filing a complaint against Zuma’s ruling African National Congress for blocking a public road.
Zille, however has said nothing about the mismanagement of funds by Nelson Mandela and former president Thabo Mbeki, as both were sympathetic to British concerns. Mbeki has alledgedly helped himself to billions of Rands of taxpayers money.
The ruling ANC, which has been in power since the end of white minority rule in 1994, is often accused of corruption with funds from the national budget not always reaching the intended millions who continue to live in poverty 18 years after the advent of democracy, but the DA has singled out nationalist leaders for criticism, like Zuma.
But Nelson Mandela’s 100 year-old party continues to enjoy mass support, securing more than 60 percent of the vote in all four national elections since 1994.
Police said they could not allow Zille to pass on Sunday due to concerns for her own safety as there were angry ANC members waiting for her next to Zuma’s home.
Zille’s DA has its origins in the old apartheid structures of whites before 1994, and has made no inroads with the black electorate.
The DA said it would give Zuma’s administration 72 hours to release information on the funding of the projects in Nkandla before going to court. The president’s spokesman responded by saying Zille was “just looking for publicity.”
President Jacob Zuma withdrew his claim for damages against cartoonist “Zapiro” to avoid setting a legal precedent, the presidency said on Sunday.
“The president… would like to avoid setting a legal precedent that may have the effect of limiting the public exercise of free speech, with the unforeseen consequences this may have on our media, public commentators and citizens,” his spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement on Sunday.
He said Zuma had decided to withdraw his claim, made in December 2008, against Jonathan “Zapiro” Shapiro and Avusa Media, the publishers of The Sunday Times, and the newspaper’s editor at the time Mondli Makhanya “after careful consideration and consultation with his legal team”.
He had also decided to make a contribution to their costs.
“It is the president’s view that a legal battle against individuals and institutions will be an unnecessary diversion,” said Maharaj.
Zuma would rather encourage the people he was taking action against to become partners in efforts to address the problems facing the country, and to get South Africans to reach out to each other across historical divides to forge a common nationhood, “putting the country first.”
Zuma had sought R5 million in damages for defamation and impairment of his personal dignity over the publication of Zapiro’s Lady Justice rape cartoon in September 2008.
He reduced his claim from R4 million to R100,000 last week, media lawyer Dario Milo said at the time. Zuma dropped his claim that the cartoon harmed his dignity, but maintained that it had harmed his reputation. He had still wanted an unconditional apology.
The matter was to have been heard by the High Court in Johannesburg on Monday.
The cartoon depicted Zuma loosening his trousers while Lady Justice was held down by since expelled African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema, Congress of SA Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, SA Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande and ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, all saying: “Go for it, boss.”
Zuma was acquitted of a rape charge in 2006
“The newspaper and the cartoonist wanted to perpetrate an image of the president as a sexual deviant, despite a court of law rejecting the allegations against him and clearing his name,” said Maharaj.
The representation was “hurtful and defamatory”, as the respondents had admitted in papers submitted to the High Court in Johannesburg, he said.
“This candid admission, whilst sought to be justified on other grounds, at least reflects an appreciation of the hurt and harm that such depiction brought about.”
Maharaj said Zuma’s decision to withdraw the matter was informed by three major considerations.
“Whereas the president believes that in an open and democratic society, a fine and sensitive balance needs to be maintained between the exercise of civil rights such as freedom of speech, and the dignity and privacy of others, that balance should be struck in favour of constitutional freedoms,” he said.
It was for this reason he wanted to avoid setting a legal precedent.
Maharaj said Zuma also wanted to encourage South Africans to solve problems caused by racist attitudes by removing the racial imprint on the way the country’s society was organised and structured, and through continuous political action and open dialogue across racial and cultural divides.
Matters relating to dignity and the public standing of individuals could not be mediated exclusively through the courts, he said.
“Essentially, what lies at the heart of the Sunday Times’ publication of the cartoon was a set of deeply ingrained prejudices regarding not only the president, but which extend to views about African males and sexual mores.
“While the courts exist in part to protect citizens against racial and cultural prejudice and bigotry, those scourges will not be eradicated from our body politic through litigation alone.”
Zuma’s decision was also rooted in his attempts to find a way out of the difficulties the country and its people were facing because of the global economic meltdown and its accompanying frustrations, and his call on all South Africans to work together to find lasting solutions. – Sapa
The Presidency moved to counter the negative publicity SA has been attracting abroad, with President Jacob Zuma’s spokesman,, insisting it was “grossly incorrect” to suggest SA was “on a downhill slide”.
Maharaj was responding to last week’s cover story by the influential business journal The Economist, headlined “Cry the beloved country – South Africa’s sad decline”.
The assertions in the article “cannot go unchallenged as they are so misleading”, Maharaj said in a statement issued on Sunday.
“It is grossly incorrect to suggest that South Africa is on a downhill slide.”
He said while two ratings agencies may have downgraded SA’s creditworthiness, many other countries had experienced the same fate.
“It is a sign of the times. The world is going through a period of serious economic upheaval,” Maharaj said.
“Despite the challenges, South Africa is getting many things right,” he insisted.
The article notes: “According to the World Economic Forum, South Africa ranks 132nd out of 144 countries for its primary education, and 143rd in science and maths.”
It also notes that since Nelson Mandela retired in 1999, the country had been “woefully led”.
Maharaj said SA was privileged to have had Mandela as its first democratically elected president. However, this did not make the country immune from economic, social or political challenges, more so given the legacy arising from colonial oppression and apartheid, he said.
“Despite the challenges, South Africa is getting many things right.
“The economy possesses the necessary dynamism to position the country as a competitive player in a difficult global economic environment. In direct contrast to the Economist article, a strong vote of confidence on South Africa was given in the last week by the international business community with the country’s recent inclusion in Citigroup’s World Government Bond Index.”
Maharaj said SA’s success was visible when benchmarking the country against other emerging market economies such as the Brics and Next 11 countries.
“With regards to financial market development, South Africa ranks first among the Brics nations and third overall in the world.”
His statement came as Zuma continued to come under attack at home, particularly over the spending of hundreds of millions of rand of public funds on his private homestead at Nkandla, KZN.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa accused Zuma of underestimating South Africans’ intelligence and misleading the country by claiming last week that a large part of the work at the estate had been done by his family.
City Press on Sunday said it had documents revealing that multimillion-rand payments to at least nine contractors had been authorised last Friday, just days before Zuma emerged from a summit of government, business and labour to address the crisis in the mining sector, where it was agreed that private sector executives would commit to a salaries and bonus freeze.
But while “Nkandlagate” has provided the opposition a stick with which to beat the ANC, it is the wildcat strikes, violence and intimidation disrupting production in the mining sector that are causing jitters among investors and that prompted the critical assessments published last week.
The government also came under fire in articles in The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Financial Times following the decision by ratings agencies to downgrade SA’s sovereign debt rating.
Cosatu has called on Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa to spur the police to get to the bottom of “the wave of violence, intimidation and killings of National Union of Mineworkers shop stewards and activists. Cosatu said it believed there was a concerted campaign to “wipe out” NUM in the beleaguered platinum sector. – Cape Argus
A few years ago, the ANC made a huge blunder in electing Jacob Zuma as President of the ANC in December 2007. Ironically, the re-election of President Thabo Mbeki in the same Conference would have been a huge blunder, portraying an incapable ANC that cannot outgrow its individual leaders. This is an unfortunate part of politics where it happens that both sides of political options are disastrous.
Now, Polokwane bred a disaster in Jacob Zuma who despite his literary incapabilities, has very low or non-existent moral standards, and obsessed with enrichment of his family members and household. An expectation was somewhat developed towards Polokwane that the election of Jacob Zuma will lead to discontinuation of rabid presidentialism and the ANC will be taken to the people. It was not to be so judging by the many individually inspired blunders committed by the sitting President both as ANC President and President of the Republic of South Africa.
Election of Jacob Zuma in the 53rd National Conference of the ANC will be the biggest blunder the ANC would have made in its history because it is going to lead to massive electoral support decline of the ANC. Majority of the people will lose confidence on the capacity of the ANC to create conditions for betterment of their lives and govern society effectively. The ANC should never elect Zuma, despite efforts to co-ordinate tribal support in KwaZulu Natal.
Between January and August 2012, the membership of the ANC in KwaZulu Natal grew by more than 100 000, actually more than 36% growth, meaning that KZN delegates will have mandates from unseasoned members on what should be the direction of the ANC. The membership growth had nothing to do with organisational development and growth, but the tribal need to defend a fellow Zulu speaking individual who has failed to provide leadership to the ANC.
What this means is that a tribal regiment has been mobilized as voting fodder to defend and protect President Zuma. Under real circumstances, there can never be a straight thinking individual without tribal prejudices, and without expectation to be defended from corrupt practices, and without legitimate expectation of being recipient of State and government patronage who will support the re-election of President Zuma as President of the ANC, and subsequently as President of South Africa until 2019.
If in their wisdom, ANC members believe and think that the re-election of President Zuma is the right thing to do, then the ANC would have lost its moral compass and total wrong. It will mean that the people of South Africa will be justified to lose confidence in the ANC.
Jacob Zuma is a corrupt leader who encourages corruption of self-enrichment. We can all appreciate that the Courts of law have not yet decided on his impending guilty verdict, and it does not need rocket science to know and notice that any competitive and fair court of law will find him guilty of corruption. The biggest corruption however is that Jacob Zuma will cost the South African government more than R1 billion on his three official residences, many wives who are subsidized by the State, and now recently the expansion of his private residence in Nkandla and the roads leading towards there.
A R1 billion can do a lot in the eradication of informal settlements and bettering of living conditions of many fronts. Zuma is a liability to the ANC, to the country and to the image of Africans the world over. He must be stopped sooner than later and held accountable for his corruption, fraud and money laundering.
The wisdom or lack of it on the President’s side led to first, militarization of the Police, second, destabilization of its leadership through unexplainable release of Police Commissioner Bheki Cele, and appointment of an inexperienced and Security cluster novice police commissioner Riya Phiyega.
The mishandling of the mass wage protests in Marikana in August this year, which led to the massacre was as a result of the directionlessness of the police and lack of experienced leadership. The Police Commissioner is on record of justifying the Marikana massacre claiming that the police were defending themselves, whilst they conspicuously resorted to cold-blooded killing of protestors after failing to arrest all of them for withdrawing their labour from the Mines.
The reason why the Mines protests happened in the first place is a reflection of lack of leadership at the highest level of the State and government. As a territory with mineral resources endowments, the leadership of South Africa have a permanent obligation to ensure that the people of South Africa, not Mine bosses, derive maximum benefits through salaries and decent human settlements from the extraction of Mineral resources.
The Zuma led government does and has never even pretended to care about the well-being of the people and Mineworkers, the government has instead arrested thousands of mineworkers, injured and killed some of them and recurrently assured Mine bosses that they are safe and should not panic. President Zuma went to the extent of deploying the military to intimidate mineworkers and those who associate with them from pursuing a national protest action against Mine bosses. South Africa has degenerated into a Security State due to the insecurities of President Jacob Zuma.
Offered an opportunity to provide political and ideological leadership to the ANC, President Zuma dismally failed and instead gave a pathetic characterization of the ANC struggles as second transition, which in all intents and purposes deviates from the core values and mission of the ANC to achieve Freedom Charter objectives.
Members of the ANC had to re-educate President Zuma in the Policy Conference that our struggle cannot be characterized as second transition because the first transition towards attainment of Freedom Charter objectives has not been fulfilled. In the ANC, inability of a sitting President to provide political and ideological leadership is treacherous. There is not even a single new idea or intervention provided by President Zuma that has taken the country forward, and yet he still want re-election for another 5 years.
Re-election of Jacob Zuma will not only cause massive and irreparable divisions in the ANC, it will isolate a significant number of voters in the 2014 general elections, most of whom will stay away for fear of voting for a white dominated party and some who will guarantee the opposition increased majority and representation in the National Assembly and Provincial Legislations.
This is an absolute fact and ANC structures and members should in a uniting fashion avoid repeating the mistakes made in the 52nd National Conference of electing a leader who is only concerned about his personal and private family’s upliftment, whilst not offering any durable, sound and sustainable solutions to South Africa’s crisis of unemployment, poverty and inequalities. We cannot afford to repeat mistakes.
The Wall Street Journal has published an article painting a bleak picture of South Africa’s economy, saying labour unrest has caused its economic growth to fall behind other African states.
“The unrest is exposing a stark reality – South Africa is falling behind, even in Africa,” read the Wall Street Journal article, published on its website on Friday.
The article said Rwanda, which had 800 000 people killed in the same year the ANC took power, had managed to achieve annual economic growth near 8% since 2004, more than double South Africa’s 3.7% growth rate during the same period.
It said that when Zambia held its democratic elections in 1991, it scrapped nationalisation, but South Africa “is debating nationalisation and other ways to intervene in the mining sector”.
Countrywide strikes coupled with unemployment and income disparity were posing a grave challenge to the ruling party, read the Wall Street Journal article.
Brazil’s economy had grown around the same pace as South Africa’s but its income disparity had diminished, it added. – Sapa
Shifts in ANC membership within South Africa’s provinces have given President Jacob Zuma a fighting chance of holding on to the party leadership and the presidency.
The number of ANC members in the southeastern province of KwaZulu-Natal might seem like a detail only of interest to South African political scientists.
In fact, the number may well be decisive in helping Zuma remain in charge of Africa’s most powerful nation and her largest economy.
This December 4,500 ANC delegates will gather to elect a party leader for the next five years.
He or she will almost certainly become the next president of the country, thanks to the party’s electoral predominance.
Five years after ousting president Thabo Mbeki in an act of political regicide at the last ANC electoral conference, Zuma could face the same fate in December.
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe is widely tipped as one possible challenger. He could announce his candidacy as soon as this week.
According to a recent TNS poll Motlanthe has a 51 percent approval rating to Zuma’s 48 percent.
But as the race gets underway, the ANC announced Wednesday that a surprising 36-percent rise in membership in KwaZulu-Natal means at least 974 of the 4,500 conference delegates will come from Zuma’s home province.
It is by far the biggest representation of any province.
For an incumbent whose administration has been marred by rolling strikes, high unemployment and social unrest, that is nothing short of a godsend.
In the race for 2,250-plus ANC delegates, every vote will count, according to Mari Harris, managing executive at local pollsters Ipsos Markinor.
A complex mix of loyalty, personal advancement and ideology, as well as regional and tribal politics, will all play a role in corralling delegates.
Harris predicts that the largely rural Eastern Cape, home to Nelson Mandela and long the heartland of the ANC, will back Motlanthe.
Although the dominant tribe in the Eastern Cape is Xhosa, members are more likely to go for Tswana-speaking Motlanthe, than Zuma, who is a Zulu.
“The Xhosa don’t have a candidate,” said Harris.
She also predicts that Gauteng — which includes Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria — will favour Motlanthe.
Indeed, ANC rising star, Gauteng province chairman and culture minister Paul Mashatile has already said the “ANC must change this year,” while calling for a “renewal of leadership.”
Together, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape account for 1,176 delegates. By striking the right pacts Motlanthe could significantly increase that total.
His recent courting of ousted party firebrand Julius Malema appeared to have paid off Wednesday when the ANC’s Youth League, which still backs Malema, called for a “radical and urgent change” within the party and backed Motlanthe as leader.
With only 45 delegates, the Youth League is unlikely to tip the balance of the leadership contest — but it could prove a thorn in Zuma’s side.
Malema could help deliver some or all of the 574 delegates in his home province of Limpopo.
It is against this backdrop then that KwaZulu-Natal’s increase from 608 votes in 2007 to 974 today may prove crucial for Zuma.
“At this stage I think he will still carry the vote, with a small majority,” said Harris. “But everything can change.” – Sapa
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