Mo’ drama as the 5th national election approaches. First of all, last week the DA and ANC were in a spat over an SMS sent to just over a million people stating that President Jacob Zuma had stolen public money to finance his Nkandla homestead upgrades. After the ANC took them to court, it was found that the text was fair comment and so the DA won the first battle.
With the ANC constantly moving from screw-up to crisis, however, it seems the DA has taken full advantage, launching a full scale political war on President Zuma through their election campaign. First with the SMS and now with this…
If you were asked how much damage one can cause in 46 seconds, the natural answer mighty be “meh, not much”, right ?
THINK AGAIN
Mmusi Maimane, the DA’s Gauteng Premier candidate, has taken President Jacob Zuma to task over his first term as president in under one minute. If anything is certain, the 33-year-old has balls. He also seems to have more decency and guts than our 4th President, in my opinion. Since the release of the ad, the ANC is outraged (naturally) and the SABC has taken the ad off air (WTF?). Check this out.
The SABC says that the advert incites violence and is not based on fact.
Are we watching the same ad?
The ad simply states the truth as seen by Maimane and many South Africans, and as with most truths – the person you’re being honest with and about often doesn’t want to hear it. Do you agree? Let’s analyse.
1) South Africa has had great leaders
First Maimane says that South Africa has had great leaders – this is true. However, Zuma does not come close to Mandela and Mbeki on that matter. No one can disagree with Maimane on this. It’s fact!
2) Since the 2009 elections, we have seen Jacob Zuma’s ANC take South Africa backwards.
Maimane says the ANC under Jacob Zuma is corrupt, benefits a select few and has taken us backwards. Ironically, the ANC often looks backwards to defend themselves these days. Does this correlate? Though global economic turbulence may be a slight factor on this matter, South Africa’s economy has also slowed since Zuma’s presidency, while many African countries such as Angola, Nigeria & Kenya have seen their economies grow steadily & rapidly. Is this what Maimane may have been referring to? Furthermore, while billions of rands are set aside for education, infrastructure and basic services every year, much of this money is wasted due to corruption & mismanagement, ie. Nkandla.
According to Business Day, the Auditor general report stated that R32 billion was wasted over the course of the last year and only 5 percent of local governments (run by the ANC) received a clean audit . What about the DA, you ask? They are not without blemish but have a comparatively clean audit and 66 percent of the Western Cape’s budget is spent of on poor communities. Things could be a lot better in the Western cape considering the scourge of gangsterism, drugs but things could be a lot worse if the city falls into the wrong hands, IMHO.
3) R246 billion spent on the president’s house
Maimane is on the money (so to speak) on Nkandla. The worst thing about this debacle is how Zuma and the governing party have responded to the concerns of the country’s citizens.
Zuma first broke his silence on the matter in a letter addressed to the speaker of parliament on Wednesday 2 April 2014. He said he didn’t ask for the upgrades to his home and therefore need not pay for them. So, by your own admission Mr. Zuma, South Africans do not need to pay for E-tolls because they didn’t ask for them, eh? In response to this, Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu has said that President Zuma is ignoring his obligation to answer the concerns of South Africans on the issue. Did you know that not long ago Zuma contributed R500 000 towards efforts to translate the bible to Zulu?
“The bible is a holy book. That is why believers should get the gist of it as it is, and it needs to be translated properly,” Zuma was quoted as saying.
Now perhaps it’s time he read the holy book he spent thousands having translated himself. Particularly the story of the good Samaritan. Just because you are “number one” doesn’t mean you have the right to put yourself first and ignore the needs of others.
The President maintains that he didn’t know what was happening at Nkandla. South Africans are probably wondering if he even knows what’s going on in the rest of the country either, at this point. Could Zuma have had Ty Pennington on the pay roll during the renovation? Because Extreme Makeover is the only way you would not know about the alterations being made to your household. Now it seems the president wants the entire debacle to disappear – the same way his corruption charges did in 2009, perhaps? Now some say Jacob Zuma is separate from the ANC, but I’m certain that he wouldn’t have made a statement at all without being sure that the ANC had his back. In 2008, the ANC sharply recalled former president Thabo Mbeki (can anyone remember why?) for in act they considered “serious” but now with more serious issues –all 256 million of them – the ANC is not acting as harshly.
Zuma now claims he is waiting for the Special Investigation Unit’s report on Nkandla before making an official statement to South Africans on what he plans to do about this issue (if anything). Conveniently, the SIU’s website changed the status of the report from “complete” to “ongoing” just shortly after the President’s statement. Coincidence? Not quite. For those that insult Zuma’s intelligence, what he has done is clever-transparent, but clever. He is buying time ’til after the elections. Sneaky, sneaky.
In short, Zuma’s response is no response at all. He has shown that he doesn’t care about our concerns. In fact, the President has politely shown us all the middle finger. And of course, the DA will use it to their own advantage. It’s called electioneering. All’s fair in love and war – especially during election time.
4) We’ve seen a police force killing people
Police brutality is unfortunately another thing that has escalated since Zuma’s presidency. There have been way too many incidents of police brutality in recent months and years. You remember the one where police dragged a Mozambican taxi driver on the back of their van after beating him up? And how about when police opened fire on striking Marikana miners? I rest my case.
5) Mmusi boldly asks where are the jobs president Jacob Zuma?
The governing party always promises millions of jobs right before elections but in the ad, Mmusi says 1,4 million jobs were in fact lost. Interestingly, the DA is also promises millions of jobs this time around. While way too many people in the Western Cape are without work, the city has the lowest unemployment rate and the highest matric pass rate in SA.
6) Lastly Mmusi says “ANC – Ayisafani”
This plainly means that the ANC has changed. This is true. The ANC is no longer the liberation party it used to be. It’s of course now the ruling party but under Jacob Zuma, has turned away from the values of fairness, liberty & human rights it once embodied. So much so that some of it’s own veterans have turned away from the party (Vote-No Campaign). It’s rich how the ANC always reminds us of apartheid but fails to address the injustices of today. For example, how can they commemorate the Sharpeville Massacre every year but not take full responsibility or strong action on Marikana?
In the ad, Mmusi talks to himself, addressing the man in the mirror as well as the President. Can President Zuma do the same? The SABC has now agreed to put the ad back on air
Here’s the AD that has the ANC’s panties in a knot…
It’s enough to get anyone’s panties in a knot, isn’t it? – especially if you’re guilty of the crimes the ad highlights.
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