Comments on: Zuma is nobody’s puppet

By: Beerboep

Beerboep — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:20:24 +0000

No Zuma is not a puppet, he is a NODDY. Always nodding his head in agreement with anything anyone says. He was interviewed by Redi Direko on 702 and managed to make many utterances without actually making a decision. He traipes around the country nodding his head in agreement with everyone and every organisation he comes in contact with, often being very contradictory, as in his assurance to the farmers their land is safe, then tells a rural village they will get the land, and finally totally ignores the issue of 3000 or more farmers and their family members murdered in the last 15 years. Then assures the business comunity the ANC is committed to them, and a day later tells the workers things will change in the business community. He is not scared to speak his mind, he is not allowed to. He is a slave to the NEC, not a president of a country, and we deserve better.

By: fergie

fergie — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:58:30 +0000

J. Zuma said before the election that he had no thoughts about running the government but, to do what the party tells him to do. All of the decisions are made by the party for the president to follow. President Zuma is right because he is not elected by the people and doesn’t have a mandate from the people. In the US the president is elected by the people and have certain powers given to his office. He can veto a bill passed by congress but they can override him with a certain amount of votes. J. Zuma understands his role and he is playing it very well. On the other hand President Mbeki was trying to act like he was directly elected to the president and he wasn’t. In 1994, the ANC set this government up in such a way that a strong man like Mugabe could not take over and rule the country for life. That means the president office in SA is a weak office with very little power.

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:28:28 +0000

Traps, I do think Barney Mthombothi in this week’s Fin Mail has, in this instance, a better grasp of this matter than you have:

“Those who thought Mbeki was the source of the strife within the brotherhood are mistaken. It was never about Mbeki. It won’t be about Jacob Zuma either. The infighting will be worse under Zuma. He doesn’t have the cunning, dexterity and yes, the backbone, of his predecessor. His only weapon is a smile. But being nice can take you only so far. Thereafter it becomes a liability. Anyway, Zuma was elected not to lead, but to obey.”

By: Nhlanhla Ngubane

Nhlanhla Ngubane — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:50:49 +0000

Good piece Traps. I do think that holding an alliance together is a delicate act. Zuma is fortunate to have a person like Mantashe as a GS of the ANC. If you trace back, since 1990, ANC has not had such a visible and vocal SG as Mantashe as they were operating under a shadow of the President of the ANC or always being upstaged by alliance partners. I do think that ANC can only grow stronger from this current setup. However their major challenge is building viable branches that are functional and not the current ones which are in reality ineffectual, except of course those that are led by those chairpersons who are active either in the SACP or COSATU.

By: Lyndall Beddy

Lyndall Beddy — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:17:21 +0000

Traps

Of course Zuma’s strings are being pulled – who paid for the massive PR/Brand building campaign since 2005?

But I suspect that the the puppet master is Mandela!

Who else had the contacts to raise the funds and contacts?

Who else was opposed to Mbeki on AIDS?

By: Michael Trapido

Michael Trapido — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:42:23 +0000

Sipho – Please try to understand the articles you read.

I can’t do another article to explain an article.

From the above you clearly don’t understand this one.

By: Siphiwo Siphiwo

Siphiwo Siphiwo — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:43:23 +0000

On the seventh paragragh, Traps goes to say:

“Zuma as a puppet of the left is an even bigger eye-opener.”

Then, on the sixth paragraph, the same Traps spews:

“It also shows that the ANC will not allow the President that it elected at Polokwane to become anybody’s puppet…”

* rolls eyes & nods head *

What’s your point Traps? surely you cant have it all. Zuma cant be a puppet when you feel like calling him so, and then you feel like condoning those who wanna make him a puppet, you say, Hey, you all, Zuma’s not your puppet!