Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Jacob Zuma; mutually assured destruction

Jacob Zuma is a South African politician. To be politely about it, he is considered to be controversial. He has been accused of rape and corruption. He is to be the heir apparant of Thabo Mbeki, the current president of South Africa.

In news reported by the Volkskrant, it is said that Joseph Zuma is threatening to disclose corrupt practices of other politicians when he is charged with corruption in a process that is about to start. It is also reported that he will step down when he is found to be guilty as charged.

I do like to call Mr Zuma's bluff. I wish the judicial system in South Africa is strong enough to continue with the proceedings and I wish that Mr Zuma discloses the criminal and corrupt practices as he knows them. I am sure that this may be unsettling for the status quo. But I cannot envision that a corrupt status quo is one that is worth preserving.
Thanks,
       GerardM

2 comments:

Ben Yates said...

I seriously don't understand how the ANC let someone like zuma into the leadership position.* He's a million times worse than Mbeki, who was already a disappointment.

* Actually, I do now that I read the article -- he exploited S.A.'s political and cultural divisions to convince his supporters that all the allegations against him were made up.

I'm a little worried south africa is sliding into a period of postcolonialist chaos that commonly happens (hell, pretty much everywhere that was a colony, from china to brazil), and that it's so far avoided.

Ben Yates said...

Part of the problem is that there's no opposition party to the ANC -- the other party was accused of being controlled by whites, and I think the accusations were probably right, not just rhetoric. White south africans sometimes do attempt to exert influence, create black front groups, etc.