I’m driving through Constantia past impenetrable electrified fences, marvelling at the way some people live and reminding myself that it’s all relative. And there’s an ANC election poster, hanging disconsolately on a tree with enough wood for four shacks.
Yeah, right. LOTS of votes coming their way from all these left-leaning Constantia folk. These houses have guest wings the size of my house. They have swimming pools the size of my lounge and kitchen combined. And I’m thinking that some people really do have too much money. That some people have riches far in excess of anything that seems fair and justifiable.
And I’m thinking about those crowds that come out for Zuma and sing and dance and swoon at his feet. How they love him, adore him, want to have his babies. And I’m thinking those aren’t fools, those people. Those people are pissed off. Those people have grown tired of waiting, waiting, waiting. They’re people who have yearned for so long, waited for so long for someone to come along and make a difference to their lives. THEIR lives. Not mine. Not the lives of these people in Constantia who have had so much for so long, many of whom were even born in these houses hugely disproportionate to their worth as human beings, where the children have their own wing and grow up thinking this is normal, this is how people live. Well, not in the real world, sunny boy. Not in my world and sure as hell not in the world of those people you see in the newspapers dancing at Zuma’s feet.
My home is so very much smaller than all of these but even my modest two-bedroom urban dwelling is a mansion compared with what many of these people call home. Who am I to say to these people that they should not vote for the man who – they believe, they think, they hope – will finally give them something more than Mbeki gave them or even Mandela gave them? He gave them their freedom, God bless him forever for that, but who will give them just a little wealth?
Because that, ladies and gentlemen, is what this election is really about. And if you haven’t worked that out yet, welcome back to planet Earth.
And I’m thinking that the time has come for anyone born to privilege to stand back for once and let the poor people come forward, let them have one more chance to find a place in the sun, one more chance at a life better than anything they have known before. And that if they think, if they truly believe, that this man is the one who will finally give them that, then let them have that chance, because none of us, not one of us, has ever given them that. We have had our chances, and we have failed them, so if this Zuma says he can do it, we hardly have a right to stand up and say, “but, but, but” … now do we?
I still will not vote for the man, but that is my democratic right and my choice. And there are many reasons why. But these people have more personal reasons for choosing Zuma than yours or mine. And we have to consider the inescapable fact that there are reasons why Jacob Zuma is about to be called to the presidency. And to wish him well with answering that call. And to hold him to account.
And I’m reminding myself – and I wrote this here on Thought Leader many months ago, long before the present debate – that the man remains untested, that there is still one thing, just one thing, that we do not know about Jacob Zuma. We do not know what Jacob Zuma is going to be like as a leader. We Do Not Know. And I have as many fears as the next man or woman – is the man going to be Idi Amin or some kind of dancing, clowning Madiba? We Do Not Know. But we can hope. And maybe, just maybe, there’s a whole new man who is going to emerge who we will all begin to see and begin to love, just as these prancing people love him now.
I’m hoping that those people are right, that he will finally bring some cheer, some solid, tactile improvement, to their material lives. And if he can find a justifiable, equitable, constitutional and democratic way to do so at the partial expense of some of these people who have so very much more than many of them deserve, I think he should go that route because it is high bloody time these things were put to rights. High time.
I do not support the Zimbabwean route of swarming onto farms and taking over without any thought for making the farm work and be part of a healthy economy. That way madness lies. But that does not mean that ways cannot be found to put things to rights, and that is what we need if this country is to survive and thrive. I don’t think there is any way around this, so we might as well get on with it and do something about it before Really Bad Things Start To Happen.
So I’m holding out for THAT Jacob Zuma, the one that those people see when they ululate and swoon. And if he comes forth, let’s welcome him, shake his hand, and dance a little. God knows we could all use some fun.
Now, deep breath everybody … here we go …
Gosh, you make me nervous; but only because you’re speaking my mind too. No, we don’t know, but I suspect we might have one of those (mostly) benevolent dictators on our hands. The kind of leader that does particularly well on this continent.
I wouldn’t vote for him – or the ANC – either, purely because I’ve neither seen nor heard anything that would inspire me to do so. But I do expect a lot of him – and if he doesn’t deliver, then he must be help answerable. (Hah!)
tony
a commendable conciliatory tone from a da sympathiser, quite encouraging.
we so hope that your leader, zille, respects people’s choice as much as you, as her loyalist, do.
will you please advice her to cease her pathetic “swart gevaar” divisive electioneering?
now, we need a united south africa more than ever…
Ja well no fine! No harm hoping. BUT…
African people do not need your undestanding and approval. Get it? You do not need to undestand. Who do u think you are?Go dance and dine with your co-racissts as well.
Very Funny Tony! Why would you write a post about us Zuma supporters? Are you feeling guilty that your white compatriots still cling to the wealth of this country with their lily white hands? These rich people in Constantia, Sandton etc. are just greedy! They moan, threaten and badmouth the govt. when they are been asked to reach a little bit deeper in their greedy pockets by paying a little bit more tax.
You are right, the poor’s patience with their plight is not limitless. Zuma will be mandated with an overwhelming victory to ensure that the marginalised, poor, unemployed and downtrodden take precedence! The moans and groans of a few whites cannot be allowed to retain the status quo. We cannot allow a minority to shape our political discourse.
PS: Tony, we never xpectyed you to vote for the ANC or Zuma in any case! You fit in quite well with Helen Zille and her racist party, the DA!
So what is your point? You don’t have a choice to change the situation anyway. The man has beaten the NPA, the Supreme Court of Appeal, the Constitutional Court, the Human Rights Commission, Cartoonists, Editors, the SABC, FW de Klerk, Desmond Tutu and BEE Moguls and their masters in their own game. So,you’re not giving anything to Zuma, he has earned the position inspite of all the legal, and extra judicial hurdles thrown at him. If he were to emulate Idi Amin, I would understand because I just don’t understand why should anothe human being be subjected to what he has gone through, especially by people who claim to be civilised. Is there still an element of objectivity left in your circle of friends, I doubt it.
Jeez Mnr. Thanks a lot for such an inspiring post.
I have been saying to people over and over that Zuma had an option to go the BEE route and as everyone can imagine he would have made it big time that way, he could be owning a Mvelaphanda or being a board of director @ one of the big corporate like all the BEE fat cats you see out there, but no the guy decided that he is going to be part of a solution and make a difference in people lives by leading the people and hopefully sorting out the issues that people have.
I always say that it’s funny how all the Zumaphobes will be the very first ones to jump into bed with him and do business with him knowing that their BEE credentials will go up and their organizations will get government tenders through the flawed BEE way, but no this man has decided he doesn’t want to go that route and he wants to make a difference.
Is is not for you to decide which party I “fit in with”, Bongo. That is my prerogative as a free citizen in a democratic country. Who said anything about me voting DA? Is it perhaps that you know that I am white?
Here’s a thought: let’s start a new party. Only one membership requirement: no racists allowed.
Would you join?
Why is it that anyone who sides with the DA is seen as a racist? The DA come from the ranks of those AGAINST the NP during apartheid. Need I remind you of where all those NP folk ended up? They are all high-ranking ANC cadres now. So much for you beloved revolutionary party. As an ardent Marxist, I despair at the Rightwingedness of all parties involved. The ANC only appears leftist because their conservatism lies with African traditions and not Western ones. But even that is a sham. They are Lassais-Faire capitalists with nepotistic undertones. There is corruption in every government; that’s not what matters. The ANC are betraying their Marxist roots, and that is why I would welcome any change. They don’t benefit the poor and are just as corporate-elitist as those they claim they defeated.
And as for Siphiwo, I hope SA is never united along political lines. Racial unity, yes, but i would prefer Millsian liberalism to Plato’s republic any day, because, after all, debate is the only way to achieve a coherent, honest and vibrant political platform.
You read the views of Themba and Bongo and you sure are glad you have stepped out of that world. You really are. The issue is there, but then it always has been. No social ingenuity to make up for a lack of technical ingenuity. Alas, dear Tony, your love of South Africa will always be unrequited. That is the tragedy. I think I may be less of a romantic than you seem to be which is why I gave up on people like them a long time ago.
Now more than ever South Africans need to aim for a nation united in a desire to live together and prosper. Why are the ‘Zuma Supporters’ aggressive and derisive way? Everyone is entitled to an opinion and a choice – if yours is Zuma, you are no more a racist by default than that voter who picks Zille. Our democracy allows us the privelege of choice. Whites, blacks, rich and poor we are all a part of South Africa – get used to it and save your energy at the ‘Constantians’ for the governments that aren’t delivering. If Zuma is to be the man to lead us, let us leave the race card _please_ and work together to make him accountable and pray he does our country proud. Tony – your hopes echo my own, and I am fervently praying that we see the Zuma you hope for, and are not left looking like idealists grasping at straws.
The blog is quite unfortunate, as it stresses that Zuma is untested leader. On the contrary, Zuma has been a leader for quite some time now: he was MEC of finance in KZN for 5 years and was Deputy President for over 5 years. I don’t think we can ignore these years. I think that a 10 years (plus) service record is enough to make an assessment about Zuma’s leadership. What I do know is that in his term as Deputy President, he headed up the Moral Re-generation Programme, as well as the AIDS Council of governement. History will attest for us that he dismally failed in both. Despite the fact that he was acquitted of the rape charges, we cannot ignore that he did indeed sleep with the daughter of a comrade who he knew was HIV positive, without a condom. I call that a double whammy (he failed both the HIV/AIDS and and his Moral Regenration responsibilities)
Someone needs to tell me what are Zuma’s achievements beyond the much vaunted Burundi peace talks (of which Mvume Dandala of Cope was also part of), and being known generous giver of bursaries to those who needed to study at university)
Zuma was very much a part of the failures that the previous goverment dished out.
Let us judge him on what he has achived (or not achieved), rather than on some hope that he will liberate the poor. The quickly we stop fooling ourselves, the better.
Zuma is what happens when you bury your head in the sand and proclaim we should now all simply be colorblind. Mbeki’s corrupt and autocratic reign, the failure of DA (NP-lite) toward becoming viable opposition party and the refusal of the privileged to assume their role in transforming SA las led to this JZ’s ascent to power.
You see Tony, as long as the beneficiaries of apartheid continue to deny the reality of generations of apartheid, like by proclaiming “there ain’t no colour”, the more Zumas will appear. What exactly do you mean by forming a party of “non racists”? Are you implying that the ANC and Cope are a bunch of racists?
I’m all for a big restitution tax on apartheid gained wealth. Big handouts to the needy for education, land etc. Then declare the playing fields level and scrap AA & BEE handouts.
Themba, you don’t talk for African people, only for Themba.
Those people who have been waiting, waiting, waiting for all this time would be far better off if they had spent their time working, working, working.
That’s how all those rich folks in Constantia got to own those fancy homes with their electric fences and swimming pools.
Tony, good post. As you can see from the replies, SA is moving into unprecedented waters. People don’t realise this: Assume Zuma tries to please the haves and the have nots, and fails to eradicate poverty substancially, he will be replaced by someone like Julius Malema, who no doubt will authorise the demise of the elite without blinking twice.
So in essence, Zuma is the last straw so to speak. If he fails, all hell will break loose. That is the reality. You live in Africa and things are done differently in Africa. Any grand romantic views about Africa will be foolish.
But I agree, let the people speak with their vote. Maybe one day, they will take responsibility for their votes. That is what democracy is about. You make the choice and live with the consequences. Like we have to take responsibility for our votes in the Yes/No referendum in the early 90′s. Probably something that Sipho, Bongo and Themba have forgotten.
Just like Obama, I am surely glad I don’t have JZ’s job.
Very nice rebuttal to Bongo Tony, and exactly so.
They do say hope springs eternal – here’s to that, and, in the good old boy tradition, may the best man/woman (note the correctness please Bongo) win.
Its all well and good to give JZ the benefit of doubt, even with all the contrary evidence shown in his past performance. Its also true that some men/women do change for the better when called to higher responsibility. Lets pray our 100% Zulu man is such a person who truly cares for all the people.
Having been a community worker for much of my life I know well the lack of promised and legislated service delivery in our communities. If Zuma does stretch his leadership strengths to insist on actual service and real opportunity for the marginalized, still we have all these cadres in various departments and municipalities, many of them incapable and lazy, and they are the conduit to the fulfillment of stated programs.
Do we really think that branch member cadres will be removed for incompetence and fraud? Then mix into the dough all the intense juvenile racism that we see so readily expressed by blog respondents, and we have murky waters indeed.
We’ll know in the first six months the direction he will be taking us. All in all, its a little far fetched for me to think it won’t be business for the elite and service failure for the poor, as usual. As for me, I think I’ll buy stock in Johnny Walker.
I was feeling all warm and fuzzy about your article which I thought was excellent: The right to chose the person you want to represent you, no matter what your co-citizens think of your choice.
Then I read some of the comments by people who espouse the ‘us and you’ hatred, racism and division in their posts, and I despair.
I realized that with such attitudes on the part of those who persist in perpetuating the ‘white and rich, black and poor’ despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary, with the continued blaming of all problems on the whites, without an understanding of where the problems lie, then the chances for a long term just solution are slim indeed, and I am sorry for people of good faith and hope from all ethnic groups in your country.
I thought Zim farms failed due to lack of input costs, and not the “black man cant farm” bullcrap? GW cut off their credit in 2001. 87% of the good land, 4000 white farmers, 20yrs after liberation etc etc
Tony, Toni, Toney,
A good argument. An honest and coherent account of what is a serious problem in our society, the acute inequality in the distribution of wealth and the seeming lack of empathy on he side of the very rich. We all know that up until recently wealth has been exclusively in the hands whites but as we have observed it is beginning to be increasingly deracialised. However this has done little to lift the very poor from their daily squalor. Even the newly rich blacks have for the most part been content to silently watch their compatriots suffer.
We have seen the frustration of the poor boil over onto our brothers from the north. As wrong as that was it is a teaser to the possible anarchy that will consume this nation should the concerns of the poor not be given first priority.
To Constantia, Sandton & Umhlanga residents (real life protagonists of the OC), it is high time you wake up. In a civilised society we cannot justify the extreme excesses that you enjoy when whole communities struggle to make ends meet every day. On the flip side, perhaps by banding together and abandoning destructive habits such communities can ascend to a better level of material comfort. Hopefully uMsholozi will serve as a catalyst to their revival.
South Africans let us (after uMsholozi takes this election) move forward in a partisan manner. Let us support the man and the party or continue to discourage him to our collective peril.
For me JZ shows what he has to offer the people when he drives around in his modern version of the praise singer – 83 vehicle convoys travelling at breakneck speed with no respect for anyone.
I wish I could believe that he truly wants to rid the country of corruption and nepotism and non-delivery. I’m just not sure that he understands what they are.
Um, not really, Jon. Some of them, I would hazzard a handful. But so very many rich whites have had it all their lives, and too many of them flaunt their wealth in the most repulsive ways, buying the grandest car and parading themselves in it for the rest of us to see. I think a person’s choice of wheels says something about their heart. Personally.
Scarface, the danger to this country is not Zuma. It is people like you who undermine the rule of law to achieve their private objectives.People have not been ashamed to parade their influence in the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court. It is obvious that these courts do not make independent decisions, especially when it comes to Zuma. The pattern is there for all to see. The confidence with which Mr de Klerk, Alec Erwin and others told the international community that Zuma wouldn’t lead South Africa betrays the trump card in the judiciary. People have not been ashamed to adopt spineless individuals like Pikoli to advance their anti Zuma objectives.Unfortunately Mpshe became the native who caused all the troubles.
Hope you watched the ANC’s victory rally yesterday Tony? It demonstrated unequivocally that the ANC will crush the opposition including the racist parties like the DA! The stop Zuma campaign by Zille will not deter the masses to vote in their millions for the ANC! The prophets of doom in our white community should accept the inevitabitlity of an overwhelming ANC victory.
None of your supporters have responded to my main argument that the wealth of this country is still in the lily white hands of ungratefull greedy whites. Since the dawen of democracy our white compatriots have moaned, badmouthing the country and see everything the govt. do as black failures! Trevor Manuel even went as far to reduce the taxes for businesses in order to create jobs. What did these captains of industry do? They greedily accepted their tax cuts without creating one single job! The new govt. under Zuma should pursue tax matters more vigorous against these greedy compatriots! This is one of the mandates of the people!
Robert James Basil Duigan: I am a reborn capitalist, and a ardent supporter of the ultimate free-market: Lassais-Faire capitalist to the bone now (reborn from your stable Mate, was a Marxist 10 years ago until I had a damascean experience). I can tell you one thing: the current lot is as far removed from free-mmarket capitalism as can be!
Which tells us one thing, as a Marxist, you believe them capitalists, Me, as a capitalist, believe them more Marxist than what is good for them. Which means the truth is somewhere in-between, they are probably middle-of-the-road nobodies, which takes the conscience out of Marxism and teeth out of capitalism, and there you have it, a total failure of government.
Maybe I’m being too simplistic but the ANC and JZ himself keeps telling us that everything that has been achieved in SA has been done so by the ANC – not the individuals, not Nelson, not Thabo but it has been achieved through ANC policies. So ergo, the problems they have had in delivering to the poor, should be an ANC problem?
It wouldn’t be solved by JZ being in power because after all, “he serves at the pleasure of the ANC”.
So his ability as a leader is a moot point. He will execute the will of the ANC’s NEC.
Am I wrong here?
mein gott, some of these posts are making me wonder… aren’t we feeling particularly grouchy today? Wake up on the antagonist’s side of the bed? Sounds like everyone that is not on “your” side is a strict adversary. This is a democracy. All is fair in this ballpark. Hopefully everything will be OK in the morning. . .
Dear Bongo,
You are absolutely right that there are vast disparities of wealth and achievement in SA. However your attempt to make this a race rather than a class issue is a rather sloppy generalisation. I could equally gnash my teeth at the greater wealth and success of the Jewish or Indian communities in SA, without adding any intelligence to the debate. Criticism of govenment, any government in any country in the world is exactly that, and should not be qualified again by the simplistic tag ‘black government’. Whilst I certainly support all citizens contributing their fair share of tax (we remain terribly dependent on the 5.2m personal taxpayers who provide over 80% of total state revenue…), I am sure you would also support a SARS audit for the entire ANC NEC, many of whom seem to have rather dubious tax statuses.
Kind regards
Two points:
One is the notion that the existence of ‘wealthy’ people in a society somehow ‘prevents’ the poor from “coming foward” and they should “stand back for once”.
Wealthy people create most of the enterprise which employs those who cannot ‘come foward’ on their own initiative, and creates the revenue which enables the state to hand out ‘grants’, ‘free’ houses, running water, healthcare, education and subsidized ‘job creation’.
Exactly how should they ‘stand back’ ?
Living modestly personaly will make NO difference to the economic reality of the ‘majority’ since proportionally, the wealthy are too few for to effect such a difference, not to mention destroying entrepreneurial initiative should some form of state coerced expropriation be advocated.
Secondly, wealth is a process, not a ‘thing’. It exists only in it’s constant recreation, and cannot be torn away from one and given to others.
Government is neither a source nor progenitor of wealth, and politicians who claim that poverty can be fixed by intervening with their ‘policies’ are expeditiously lying.
Attempts at engineering economies have never lead to equitable societies, and have mostly resulted in political elites riding on the back of remaining enterprise such measures have failed to destroy.
Majority poverty has existed as long as has human enterprise, and is not a consequence of ‘politics’.
The most prosperous societies in the world have historicaly been attained through the lowest levels of state intervention, the most unequal ones marked by the highest levels of intervention.
Dear Tony,
In case you hadn’t noticed, really bad things have started to happen. The scorpions are in the process of being dissolved, Vusi Pikoli has been fired the charges against JZ withdrawn (both on spurious grounds) and the judiciary and media are both slated for “transformation” by the likely new government. Our only hope is education, education and more education. Recycling houses in Constantia won’t help; ignorant and free never can be. The only sustainable way out of inequality is through education, skilling the masses, vocational training and mentoring the genuinely previously disadvantaged (not their fat cat cousins who are multi-millionaires with the compliments of BEE). Fortunately, the dysfunctionality of the education system, which in 2007 (the last year for which stats are available) produced only 42000 black (African) matriculants capable of passing a functional literacy test out of 1,2 million who started school 12 years earlier, has been identified as a “priority” by team JZ. Let’s hope and pray that due priority is given to the many issues in the education system. If it is not, the pressure for unsustainable and non-viable redistribution of wealth a la Mugabe methodology will grow, to the detriment of all, those who are certainly far too rich now but also those who are far too poor. Just ask any Zimbabwean peasant whether the policies of the Mugabe regime have improved his or her lot.
Three solutions exist: education, education and education
best
Paul Hoffman
http://www.ifaisa.org