Actions and justifications of our political leaders reveal immaturity

WHATEVER the truth of the rogue unit claims, the appointment of Gordhan has helped to alleviate the fallout of Zuma’s decisions with regard to the Treasury last week.

But the musical chairs has left scars and a full recovery will take some time. This when the country already faces economic problems from slow growth to high unemployment.

On the political front, however, there appears to be a silver lining. The turnaround proved that, contrary to speculation in some circles, Zuma can’t always get away with doing what he wants. ACCORDING to Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in The Revival of the Sciences of Religion, the human lifecycle has various stages of development.

Thus kids, for example, enjoy having fun, playing sports, eating sweets, etc. Young men desire flashy clothes, fast cars, impressing and pursuing young woman. Mature men take pleasure in power, name and fame. The elderly approaching death seek to be remembered and thus speak on issues of justice and equality, etc.

At each changing phase, the other considers the earlier phase as wasted energy.

When elderly people play children’s games or eat excessive sweets, society views this as abnormal. Similarly it is doubtful that kids seek power, name and fame as there is no value in these accolades for a typical child.

For millennia these unwritten and unspoken norms have been accepted by society.

However, there are those in political leadership who are adulated by society, yet in truth they actually lack any genuine skills.

When leaders who are expected to be thinking adults behave like youngsters seeking pleasure, what does this say about their cerebral progress and ability to lead?

Last week, South Africans went to sleep and awoke to a new finance minister. Not even other national ministers knew that this change was to take place. This week we awoke again to discover that that minister, whose name is now not worth remembering, has been replaced.

Normally when a minister is replaced, especially a key minister, there are months of conjecture and obfuscation by the national leadership, which is fed into the media.

Anticipation is created and then the falling of the sword. This is the nature of a mature, accountable, transparent democracy.

After the new minister was replaced by Pravin Gordhan, those who sought to ingratiate themselves with the leadership went on the attack and defence at the same time. “The markets are racist because they rejected the minister.” “The president is not a dictator as he listens to advice.”

The quality of the attack and defence was so puerile that a Grade 7 pupil could recognise the grovelling and sucking up to the leader. This type of juvenile reaction suggests a serious lack of maturity, a lack of education and a poor understanding of realpolitik.

For example, a few months ago, Transnet also sought to deceive when media reports suggested that billions of taxpayers’ money was spent on unsuitable trains bought in Europe.

It was then revealed that the parastatal’s top leadership lacked qualifications and that the wrong trains had been received. Ironically, while the fiasco was unfolding, those liable also accused their critics of racism.

It is vital to note that when leaders guilty of ineptitude attempt to hide their folly behind claims of racism, genuine claims of racism will soon amount to nothing.

The point is that those in leadership cannot be allowed to make statements and decisions without being liable for the results of their actions. It is normally expected of a mature adult, especially those in leadership, that they will accept responsibility for their actions.