Ministers become Mini-Me

Last week we watched President Jacob Zuma celebrate his birthday, looking jovial, cracking jokes and seeming to be without a care in the world. This was despite a protest on the same day to remind him that the number of those who sing for his removal, is growing in numbers every day; that those who want him out are becoming a united front against his leadership and that for his removal, even for a day, they are willing to set aside all differences to fight a common enemy – him.

While the president makes light of the participants of protesting actions against him, he cannot hide from the truth that even some who were once his friends, some that he once called comrades, agree that he may no longer be the right candidate to steer the our country. Many veterans of the liberation struggle today stand opposed to someone trained in the trenches alongside them and may not be able to recognise the new-age Jacob Zuma.

The country’s most important department has a new face, with an unproven track record in the field. With crime keeping citizens hostage and in fear, a flamboyant youngster is brought in to make us feel safer when we go to sleep each night.

You see, Zuma did what nobody expected: he moved past the comrades and the military veterans and made friends with those on the basis of personal wealth. He moved from an almost celebrated hero, the most talked-about president of democratic South Africa because he stepped out of his comfort zone and made friends with people so different from him that we did not see it coming. Love or hate him, his family is in a far better position because of the influences of the new social circle the head of the Zuma family has found himself in.

Now, there are ministers in positions they do not deserve, who joined the ruling elite to better the country but are fast becoming junior Jacobs. The cycle continues. If your friends are not encouraging personal elevation and development, ask yourself this, what are the benefits of the friendship then? Men of great power must have advisers to lead. Check your social circles, within the confines of the law.