How selective is the newfound unity?
THE TENS of thousands of South Africans across the country who marched in support of President Jacob Zuma’s resignation have clearly displayed a newfound unity between the many disparate groups and alphabet soup of political parties and anti-Zuma lobbyists.
It remains to be seen, though, if the protesters will succeed in deposing our stubborn president, who seems as determined as ever to ignore the hysterical brouhaha and to see out his current term of office. The protesters might have to bite the bullet and resort to the democratic process of the ballot box in two years’ time.
Whatever finally eventuates, many South African voters have found much hypocrisy in the current Zumaphobia frenzy.
A great many businesses had been uncharacteristically generous in giving their staff time off during working hours so that they could join the protest marches.
There is seldom such magnanimity from the conservative business fraternity when desperate South Africans request time off to protest against slave wages and their bleak employment and living conditions.
One still has lingering doubts about the actual motivation of many of the marchers of a paler hue. Did many of them march for the president’s early demise, or was it a more deep seated desire to inflict damage on the “nasty” ANC bogeyman? Very few white people could even bring themselves to vote for the fledgling ANC administration led by the universally acclaimed statesman of the 20th century, Nelson Mandela.
All decent South Africans should certainly unite against delinquent political leaders, and I feel that a united opposition can, collectively. Their mission should be to embrace an all-encompassing striving for anti-criminality, social justice and the general upliftment of the previously disadvantaged masses.
St r i d e n t protests solely against an un p o p u l a r leader have suspect morality. The African population has been wonderfully generous in forgiving past apartheid abuses and been at the forefront of the nation-building exercises.
But, generally, white people have not been as forthcoming and seem, by all means, to strive to hold on to their privileged fiefdoms. I wonder if many of those anti-Zuma marchers would also join a protest march against the in h u m a n e co n d i t i o n s existing in the squalid in f o r m a l se t t l e ments that are experienced by millions of African people.
Horrific fires regularly decimate communities consisting of thousands of residents in an inferno of death and destruction of all worldly possessions.
Organisations such as the Cape-based “Social Justice Coalition“are virtually on their own when campaigning for a more equitable South African society.
A small group of them last week picketed outside the Western Cape police headquarters in protest against a joint decision by the SAPS and the national Public Works Department to build a stateof-the-art R100 million new police station in the tranquil seaside resort of Muizenberg.
This compared to traditional African townships like Langa, and on the Cape Flats where the number of contact crimes and mortalities resembles a war zone headcount, and where policing is virtu- ally non-existent, never mind a R100m new police station.
Similarly, the “Reclaim the City” organisation is fighting a lonely battle against tainted Premier Helen Zille’s Western Cape administration and the Cape Town Metro, which has planned to sell some derelict properties for a handsome profit motive, instead of providing much-needed affordable inner-city housing for desperate people of colour.
Wouldn’t it be nice if many of the white faces in the antiZuma marches could also be seen in their numbers in protest initiatives against such unjust administration? Can pigs fly? Brian Venter
It remains to be seen if they’ll succeed in deposing Zuma