Comments on: Zuma turns into his own worst nightmare

By: ian shaw

ian shaw — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 14:38:15 +0000

I wonder where Dave Harris got his educatgion and his seeming mastery of English. Was he an exile educated on anti-apartheid handouts as a member of the ANC? If so, does he speak Russian as well? Or did he get a scholarship from some white organization to send him abroad? Or is he self-educated like Zuma? He says that SA education is invalid because it was based on privileges. If he was an underprivileged black with only a Bantu education, then how did he rise to his present eminence?

By: Paul Whelan

Paul Whelan — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:37:06 +0000

Fair enough article, surely, with all those quotes but it’s not a question of Zuma being like Mbeki or turning out the same, but of the direction of SA foreign policy in Zim. If you are interested, take a look at:

http://www.richmarksentinel.co.za/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=5&recid=135&pcurr=2

By: Jon Story

Jon Story — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:03:53 +0000

Dave Harris on March 23rd, 2010 at 7:37 am
You remind me of my neighbour who also tends to shoot off his mouth without thinking first.eg:
@Pancetta. A friend of mine had a farm in Zim and was ordered to hand over to blacks. They had about 100 workers who had a living (not rich, but a living). So the farm got split-up in tiny pieces and the black workers were each given a piece.
It ceased to exist as an economic food-producing unit. Within two years the land was mostly lying fallow and what implements remained were unusable. Indeed the days of the previously advantaged farmer and his family were finished and they got a token price for the property. But hardly any food was produced, the raison d’etre of every farm. This happened all over Zim with disastrous consequences.
The same could happen in SA where some restituted farms are already lying fallow. But if that is what you want who am I to argue.
or eg :@Peter L. OK a degree does not guarantee sound thinking but is still seen as an indication of having some knowledge. Whether the professors were black or white is immaterial.
as eg @pasile. Obama may be coloured but that does not make him a messiah of African Renaissance. Which remains a fata morgana in many respects. Obama is still too busy to visit SA it seems to support his black brothers and sisters. Why, you think.

By: Musa

Musa — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:54:45 +0000

Monde, I doubt there will be such examples.I’ve heard this song sung repeatedly over and over again, until everyone believed it.They then got rid of Mbeki, look at them now.
The ANC and government are in disarray, the alliance is but a name.
Some say there is a breath of fresh air,yeh right, of course anyone can say whatever they want, making sense has taken a back seat.
We are in more trouble then we are willing to admit.
The World Cup will be a welcomed distraction, thereafter we’ll face the grim reality of this administration and our countrys quick dimise.

By: The Creator

The Creator — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:33:44 +0000

Zimbabwe is not considered a massively important issue in black South Africa, simply because there’s virtually nothing we can do. Mbeki did the only possible thing, which was to broker the peace deal, and this has helped quite a lot, but not enough. Zuma has simply nothing to offer which is different from Mbeki’s line (as usual).

Of course, Zuma could go along with the Anglo-Americans and the white South Africans and scream abuse at ZANU-PF, but that wouldn’t actually do anything for Zimbabwe, and more to the point, it would weaken his authority within the ANC. It’s not about supporting Mugabe, it’s about not supporting Mugabe’s enemies. (The butchers of Baghdad and Kandahar are not people who have any right to criticise the thugs of Harare.)

Incidentally, Dave Harris is too much the Zumaphile to notice that Zuma is far more repressive than Mbeki, especially within the ANC, where dissent has been crushed and dissidents purged to an extent unprecedented since the big purges of the early 1980s.

By: Musa

Musa — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:55:41 +0000

Someday there will be a rethink on Mbeki, he is not what you have painted him to be.Besides the option that was chosen in Polokwane is far far worse, its only been a few months, brace yourselfs for Mbeki’s worse fears as they come to reality.

By: Lord Haw Haw

Lord Haw Haw — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:34:33 +0000

There is so much to learn from President Mugabe. How to make the unemployed youth feel like victorious veterans, create instant millionaires of everybody, provide cheap labour for South African restuarants and farmers , all without adding a wrinkle to his brow. Maybe if the boers had a bit of Mugabe’s goetspa we wouldn’t have been colonised by Rhodes and his pals. Zuma has learnt these lessons well and it is only fitting that he and his government pay homage to a true African liberator who will not be cowed by meaningless threats from the West.

By: Phillipa Lipinsky

Phillipa Lipinsky — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:41:07 +0000

Zuma is not and will never be like Thabo Mbeki so don’t even try to compare them.

By: WSM

WSM — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:13:41 +0000

@ Maurice – point taken but ‘transmogrifying’ captures the irresistible aspect of JZ’s change in the way that ‘transform’, with its positive connotations doesn’t. Also, in the context of the header and the second para, I think the meaning should be clear without recourse to a dictionary!

By: Fani Dingiswayo

Fani Dingiswayo — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:01:14 +0000

This could have been a very good post had you simply quoted President Zuma’s statements about Zim in the past two or three years and his actions of the recent past without trying to equate him to Mr Mbeki. Try and do that next time and maybe Dave Harris won’t attract so much attention as if it is his post