Zuma MUST Fall?  Why?  Can we back up here a bit?

So let me pen some thoughts on the #ZumaMustFall Campaign.

I am an amateur writer.  I write stuff no one reads. I express myself though my writing.  Hodge podge ideas at most.  I get many Facebook inbox messages from people who hate me and a few from people who, well, love me.

I was an average student activist.  Torn between God, Protest and Studies I often made the wrong choices.  On campus I could have done much more. Post university I committed in earnest to the struggle for a just and free South Africa.  Today, my racist, poverty, corruption and social justice antennae are set to “extreme” on the detection front.  And even more so on the Economic and Land issues affecting poorer South Africans.

Let me say at the outset:  I have always been very uncomfortable with white armchair activists.  Those of the SMS variety who flood newspapers with their “solutions for the country” which is to shoot, hang, kill and fire everyone and everything they believe is wrong with this country.  And now lately I’m uncomfortable with white activists who are protesting to get rid of a black president.  This fragile democracy will baulk at that.  And I fear what that “baulking” will end up looking like.  The tones that I have heard President Zuma talked about borders on racist rationale.  And let me again split hairs here between political satire (which I enjoy, and which politicians are usually a target of and which I subject him too, very often) and talking about the President as if he is a sub-human being, a black man as opposed being a ‘civilised man’ and in tones as if the President is “of a lower class than us”.  That’s where this struggle against President Zuma is going to run into a brick wall.

I am also just as uncomfortable with black “I was part of the struggle but now it’s my turn to get rich” activists.  Only they determine who can protest and how legitimate the protests are.  They have a “superior’ struggle pedigree which they somehow manage to squeeze down any and every conversation while they stuff their feet into fancy shoes and frequently look at the oversized watches on their oversized arms folded across their oversized bellies.  Both are equally distasteful to me.

During the 80s I saw the inside of Apartheid’s prisons twice.  For protesting and caring.  I saw the launch of the UDF in my hometown Mitchells Plain.  I had my brown Cressida (lent to me for 2 years during 85 and 86 by good friends) and red Peugeot Station Wagon (which used to belong to former Nationalist Minister of Finance Barend Du Plessis) tear-gassed off the UWC campus as students jumped into its open boot to flee off campus or to the hostels. How I, with a few other I’s in-between, got it from Barend Du Plessis is a very long story.  If only the Security Police knew that the red Peugeot with registration number BJK380T once used to belong to the former Nationalist  Minister of Finance and was now used to ferry UWC students off campus fleeing the police, they probably would have made a guard of honour instead of spraying it with teargas.  I sat in many church and mosque mass meeting and attended many marches.
Often those marches and meetings had a sprinkling of white faces and hordes of black and coloured and Indian faces.

I remember in 1980 how two young boys – 10 and 11 – from Shepherd Way Westridge where I lived – got shot and killed by the police in Eisleben Road, minutes after they left my home to “go and see the riots”.  I remember the parents coming home from work because someone had phoned the factory where they worked. I remember how, with my red Bared Du Plessis Peugeot, I drove the parents of one of the boys to go and identify his body at the Salt River mortuary.  I remember how the father sobbed in the back seat, as he held his wife.  I have never heard a man sob like that.

I became angry and angrier.

I never had much time for intellectual activists and for career politicians.  The one talks smart and the other one deals smart. I’ve watched these types from the side-lines for many years now.  I’ve also not had much time for “comrades” who often covered up vice, theft and abuse in the name of the struggle.

The white liberal struggle during Apartheid was an extreme sideshow.  It had the same consequence of a sea shell dropping on an ocean floor during a tsunami.

I have always sought to help people.  In fact, it’s cost me dearly over the years. But it’s a price I am prepared to pay – to see the lives of others improve and change for the better.  I – along with my family – understand the concept of “enough” in economic and social terms. We don’t seek excessiveness in any form.  Post-Apartheid lifestyles have seduced the political classes to thinking that opulence is the new standard instead of moderation.   I believe in an economic system that allows as many as possible to enter a “middle (average) class” lifestyle – based on the definition of average for each society and with real social protections (health, education and economic) for those unable to reach this standard of living.  I believe in a progressive tax system which taxes the wealthy more than the poor.

So let me come to the #ZumaMustFall campaigns.
The undisputed fact is that our President is an incompetent presidential incumbent and wholly unsuited for the job. That the ANC, through the NEC or its branches have not raised this matter (apparently and as far as we know) at NEC level is just staggering.  Does the ANC want the nation to understand that not a single branch across the ANC membership has raised this issue with the NEC at all?  No branch has asked for the President’s recall?  That in itself speaks volumes.  It either means that branches have been told that the matter cannot be raised at this stage or it has been raised and defeated in an open vote.  Both outcomes are just disastrous for the political health of this democracy.  If the ANC have squashed branches from tabling a recall motion it means the independence of branch discussions is hugely compromised.  If it has been tabled and defeated then the politics of sycophancy and blind loyalty has replaced sound political and economic dialogue.

I am also surprised at the oblique silence of Julius Malema over recent weeks on this matter for two reasons:  He got Jacob Zuma “KillforZuma” popularised and ultimately elected in the first place and he was the one who broke up with him and campaigned against him in the last election. Has the EFF become a “single issue” (read: Nkandla) party?

Let me return.  President Jacob Zuma’s poor handling of most of the crucial issues in our government is bad news for this country.  But let me be specific about the bad news.  He is bad for Constitutional Democracy.  That’s what he is bad for.   He is not bad because he is black.  He is not bad because he only has a primary school leavers certificate.  He is not bad because he has 5 wives or lives in a state owned mansion.  And I cringe when I see the number of whites who join the #ZumaMustFall campaigns and who echo sentiments along the lines of “he’s a thief, he is an idiot, he did not finish school, he has 5 wives, Nkandla etc as their rationale for Zuma needing to fall.  And I think the #ZumaMustFall campaigns across the country will die right there – because its leaders fall into the Malema trap – the #ZumaMustBeInsulted trap.  And this will be their undoing.  The #ZMF campaign is driven by an emotional frustrated #GatVol campaign masquerading as a #ZumaMustFall Campaign.  And I hear the #ZMF campaign apologists coming at me with “look how the rand fell” and “look at our international ratings” and “look at crime” and and and.  And that justifies some form of racist rationale?

I also think the name #ZumaMustFall is a most inappropriate name for a cause of such import. Why?  Well let’s look at #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall.  It’s filled with images of anarchy.  Those who criticised the students from their armchairs armed with their sms shotguns and spoke of the hooliganism have now joined the #…MustFall Movement.  Oh and now it’s ok?  Because whites have joined it?  It’s now legitimate and right?  When Chimane Maxwele led the #RodesMustFall campaign he was deemed a hooligan and an agitator.  Calls for his banning from UCT filled the newspaper SMS columns.  How could this black student call for a white man of such import as Rhodes to fall?  No armchair activist came out to support Mr Chimane Maxwele.  Now the armchair activists have abundantly joined the #ZumaMustFall campaign.  And all of a sudden insulting posters are all ok.
In addition, the #…MustFall movement have some pretty horrible scenes – defacing statues, defecatings, burnings, vandalism etc. In President Zuma’s case I think a #ZumaMustBeRecalled Campaign would be far better Campaign name than the horror images associated with a #…MustFall Campaign.  So violence against Rhodes and university properties were totally criticised by the armchair activists but insults and possible future violence against President Zuma is all ok?  What will the #ZumaMustFall people do when their members begin to burn government offices and draw insulting pictures of the president and insult his role within his culture and eventually wake up to the day when the tribal culture behind a Jacob Zuma begins to respond to that and attack the #ZumaMustFall proponents?  The Battle of Blood River would be a walk in the park.

Let me say again. President Zuma is bad news for Constitutional Democracy.   He simply does not know the rules well enough. He simply does not know the laws governing the various aspects of the Constitution and the various Offices, Departments and Organs of State and he does not allow himself to be advised by his advisers.  That’s the only reason you must want him removed. And you can only remove him either through a recall by his party, a general election, a successful vote of no confidence in the House or a successful impeachment.
Let’s face it.  The last three is not going to happen any time soon. So the only option is for the ANC to recall him.  And do we really believe the ANC will cave in to what appears on the surface to look like a “white-driven-black-supported” #ZMF campaign?  What planet are you living on?  It will only increase their resolve to be resolute in helping President Zuma see out his term of office.  And then still lurking in the wings are the small opposition parties who see this as rich pickings for their brand of politics.  The ANC will mobilize its masses – and will bus in thousands of poor and especially rural poor – who will make a #ZMF march look like a kindergarden outing.  Will it hurt the economy?  Of course.  Big time.  But this is where the battle lines are drawn:  between an apparently white driven #ZumaMustFall Campaign and a sensible national campaign led by religious, academic, business and labour movements to tell the ANC #ZumaMustBeRecalled.  That’s a campaign worth supporting.  The #ZumaMustFall campaign will polarise racial tensions in this country far beyond what we can bear.  A #ZumaMustBeRecalled campaign speaks to the heart of our Constitutional wellbeing.

And so why won’t the #ZMF Movement succeed?  Firstly because it’s perceived to be “driven” (as opposed to led) by whites.  “Driven” means that the backrooms of the movement are led by white activists.  I say perceived.  Secondly because it is perceived to have small political parties behind the scenes pulling the strings.  Thirdly because economic participation of the poor in the mainstream economy and land reform remains the two most crucial elections issues.  Not Zuma.  President Zuma is not the most crucial election issue.  Not in the minds of the millions of poor rural people.  Even if the opposition political parties make him out to be.  And no one speaks the language of the poor as well as the ANC.  And no one in the ANC speaks the language of the poor as well as Jacob Zuma.  And this is what no one understands.  Zuma is the poor people’s president.  In fact, he is greater than a president – he is the poor people’s Chief.  He is a tribal King.  He is a Trans-Tribal King and Chief.

The armchair activists may wonder why no one in the ANC is willing to stand up to the ANC in order to change the dialogue in this country?  How come the ANC hides behind “the party will discuss this matter in it’s branches”? When the Nats were in power we demanded they place no conditions on dialogue. Yet today the ANC does.
Why?

Because behind all this lurks this uncomfortable truth:
the ANC did not liberate this country. The ANC inherited the liberation of this country. And the ANC governs largely at the behest of the rural and urban poor and the labour movements.  And the deal between the ANC, the SACP and the Union movements is its saving grace.

The UDF and the plethora of mass democratic organizations, especially youth organisations, liberated this country. The ANC lived in protected environments far, far away from the daily street battles of the 70s, 80s and 90s. The ANC did not experience the 70s, 80s and 90s in South Africa.  When the ANC returned to South Africa in 1990 the UDF and its affiliates handed the leadership over to the returning exiles. The wisdom of the exiled Elders guided the negotiations.  But again – note: it was the Elders who guided it. Most of the Elders have passed on. The rest of the ANC knows very little of what this country needs.

The rest of the ANC is now made up of factions, interest groups and to some extent opportunists who are having a tough time deciding where the true centre of power lies within the ANC. The ANC today under President Zuma has many leaders but has no real centre of power. It has become burdened down with its own bureaucracy who all are largely incapable of making directional decisions for this country.
In addition, the failure by the ANC to address the economic inclusion of and wealth creation for the poor and the land issue in a sensible and progressive manner over the last 20 years is its most glaring failure.

Over the 21 years the old guard became cautious. The young lions became millionaires. The people became divided. Local Tribal co-ordination and remobilisation resurfaced in parts of the land as a response to especially the failures of local governments.

President Zuma’s plane and Nuclear deal and Nkandka and SABC interfaces are all his careful orchestrations to show the poor of South Africa: “Can you see? Look how they fight me, a black man who seeks to get ahead. They object to me all the time. If I’m gone, they will do this to you too. You need me and the ANC to fight for you.”

And thus he creates images in the minds of voters – most of them correct images of how black leaders are maligned in the media – and how the poverty of black people “won’t change under another government” – it’s only the ANC that fights for poor people to “get stuff”. However, what he does brilliantly is that he is acting like a trans-tribal chief who by custom receives gifts from his followers to sustain his lifestyle and leadership. He is not acting like a President. And this is where Pres Zuma is most dangerous and way ahead of his detractors. The rural and urban black poor understand the role of the chief – and Zuma is their President and their Trans-Tribal Chief. And in Zuma they see a Chief being maligned. And in tribal terms that means excommunication, isolation and even death to those who insult the Chief. (Remember how Chief Buthelezi stormed a Durban SABC television studio in the 90s and assaulted a prince on live prime time TV because he insulted the Chief and the King?)

While people fight him on principle – he wages a war of mental pictures which he paints on the minds of the urban poor, the tribal and the rural poor, to show how he as a black man and Chief (not president) is suffering and being made a fool of and questioned and interrogated and vilified and painted in rude paintings etc etc.

President Zuma has painted himself as the ultimate Trans-Tribal Chief who is a victim of Western ideologies. He portrays himself as doing what is best for his people. And he portrays other people as jealous, insulting and not willing to listen. And his message is that he is doing this – becoming wealthier – to empower the poor. Look at the numbers of unknown people he appointed to strategic positions. It’s strategically cementing the image of “the benevolent chief” who deserves the gifts he asks for.

And this is what the #ZumaMustFall movement does not get.  And this is what the rank and file ANC leadership has no ability to stand up to – it’s a strategy used by the president to which there is no possible resistance. Even the “Mbeki recall” strategy won’t work here. The president has become a trans-tribal chief. And tribal chiefs don’t get recalled. Their leadership is ancestral. And thus a far broader nationally driven recall strategy must be mobilised.

Therefore a ‪#‎ZumaMustFall campaign is naive. Zuma won’t fall. Because the party principles does not apply to the Chief. The #ZumaMustFall campaign also does not take into account the aspirations of millions of poor rural and urban black people still trapped in decades of poverty. And no – they the poor cannot see salvation elsewhere. And don’t blame them. Twenty years later they are still spoken of by most people as lazy, grant-seekers, criminals etc. The ANC “gets them”, speaks their language and fuels their aspirations even if the bus is going nowhere.

Thus the President a year ago denounced “intelligent people/leaders”. Thus he sees as his right to advance his role as this chief who gives gifts to people (jobs, positions, access, rights) and in turn receives gifts from people (the Guptas, the public purse, the various key positions for his family members etc). This is our Chief not our president.
And the ANC quietly knows this – because when the ANC as political structure seeks to address the principles with the President of South Africa, the Chief emerges. And the principles die.

The Elders know the principles. The UDF knew the principles. The ANC knows the principles. The Chief believes he is above the principles.
And the Great Trans-Tribal Chief will win.

South Africa must brace itself for a political crisis.

If the #ZumaMustFall Campaign truly wishes to take this country forward they must do us all a favour and help the ANC Secretary-General and the NEC with all the resources to have President Zuma recalled in a way that does not unleash a tribal war against the perceived white wealthy in this country.  For God knows, if Zuma falls, a lot more than the rand will fall with him.  Our democracy will in all probability also fall.  Each time I see a #ZMF event I think of the rural poor and their hopes and aspirations and of which President is still the embodiment of the aspirations of most poor people.in South Africa.  And if you cant see that you are not well informed.  Let’s have him recalled.  I can live with that.  And let’s start by renaming the campaign #ZumaMustBeRecalled.  I for one won’t attend a #ZumaMustFall event.  I may love the political satire of this period.  But I’m very serious about preserving our democracy and its very young traditions.  And Zuma needing to fall does not fit into my democratic vision for this country.
You sow to the wind and you end up reaping a whirlwind.

Copyright 2015

Published on December 16, 2015.