President Zuma

Zuma 'destined to disappoint'
by Mphatjie Monareng
2010-02-15 13:30

Many of us who watched President Jacob Zuma's atrocious performance in front of a primetime television audience last week do not believe that his speech accurately captured the state of our nation, as it was supposed to.

And many of us are not surprised that Zuma would squander such a rare opportunity.

Right from the beginning, Zuma was destined to disappoint. Nelson Mandela led the nation with courage and clarity of vision. Mandela passed the baton to Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki led with discipline and tact, albeit a few notable shortfalls.

Then the beginning of the end: Zuma emerges miraculously through great controversy to lead the ANC and later the country - and then, not surprisingly, drops the baton.

A country that prided itself as the African exception, as the rainbow nation, the home of Nelson Mandela and a place of political stability, suddenly became an international oddity.

Apart from his bizarre habit of song and dance, Zuma is a subject of much curiosity precisely because of his incapability to lead. A president is supposed to manage managers - the ministers, directors-general and premiers. And here, Zuma fails terribly.

In the past two weeks, we read newspaper reports of how Zuma's premiers in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces are embroiled in various acts of controversy, all revolving around allegations of endemic corruption.

Some of his ministers - if not the majority of them - are in cabinet seemingly solely to line their pockets. And they do this consistently and shamelessly, right under Zuma's nose. And, do you really expect him to lift a finger? No, he won't.

Zuma's political survival manual is quite basic: sit on the fence and have both camps guessing that you're on their side. Even on matters of national importance, don't take a stance. And keep them guessing continually.

Until Zuma quits his position, either voluntarily or through cohesion by his comrades, we'll have to make do with this uninspiring, indecisive, poor leadership. There's no hope of improvement. We are on a downwards slope.

What is so catastrophic about this is that the ANC, the so-called revolutionary party, betrays the very people who swept it into power - the poor, the unemployed.

And when the poor lose their patience, you get what happens in Sakhile. And, gradually, the whole country becomes a Sakhile, and, before you know it, we're no longer an African exception.

Zuma hasn't spent a year in office yet; but the damage he's done to the image of the presidency is already monumental. One can't think of any worse betrayal of Mandela's legacy.