Identifying strongly with his tribe robs Zuma of being full-time SA president
“New” SA nation back in separate tribal kraals
truly South African leader. To this day, Zulus are as proud of Mandela as are Sothos, Shangaans, and so on.
Under Mandela, most of us felt a sense of movement towards a new nationhood. He was not only conscious of the need to nudge all of us in this direction; he was skilful at it.
While making it plain that he was an African leader to Westerners who sought to appropriate him, Mandela instructed his designer to make shirts that do not resemble a single tribe. We all saw ourselves in Mandela’s shirts. Our collective sense of South Africanness was stronger under him.
The opposite of Mandela is President Jacob Zuma. As he was rising to the top, Zuma allowed his tribalistic backers to market him as a “100% Zulu Boy”. Thus it was clear to nonZulus that Zuma had no pretensions to be their president.
When he got to the Union Buildings, Zuma conducted himself as a part-time South African and a full-time Zulu. Not only did he frequently project his sub-national Zulu identity; he always ran to KwaZulu-Natal whenever he was embroiled in a scandal.
Addressing his people in isiZulu, Zuma always speaks of enemies who are working for his downfall. The enemies are presumably not Zulu. They are “other” people.
Under Zuma, the “new” SA nation has fragmented back into separate tribal kraals. Vendas are more Venda today than they were under Mandela. And so are Afrikaners.
Our greatest national challenge is to find a president, not a tribal leader. We need someone who will say “Unity in Diversity”, while redirecting our subnational streams of identity towards a great national river called South Africa.