Chance to oust Zuma
IN MEDIEVAL times the weapon of choice was a mace or war hammer.
Swords bounced off surface hardened plate armour and chain mail. A flanged mace or spiked war hammer could bring maximum force against an opponent’s helmet in a small area causing concussion or worse.
The Viking God Thor, from whom we get Thursday, protected Asgard from the giants with his hammer Mjolnir, making it a symbol of protection from chaos. As times changed the mace came to signify authority, hence its special place in so many assemblies and parliaments around the world.
Our mace was presented in 2004 and sits on the Speaker’s table. It incorporates aspects of the Zulu and Xhosa fighting club or knobkierie, which also appears on our coat of arms. The head of the mace is a drum which traditionally calls people to meetings. On top of the drum is an open book representing the constitution.
The upcoming no-confidence debate will be a defining moment for this young democracy. President Jacob Zuma has broken the constitution, our highest law. His clique has unleashed a propaganda campaign to cause division through the fanning of racial tensions.
Thugs threaten journalists who plumb the depths of their corruption. Appalling levels of nepotism among Zuma’s family are daily being revealed, yet ANC members in the House are being pressurised by their party machinery to support him. When the vote is taken they will either have betrayed their party or their people.
Letting Zuma off for a sixth time, on the basis that his successor will be chosen in December, only condones his abuse of power. If the mace is not to become a “mere bauble”, as it has in Harare, the president must be voted down. The House must symbolically become the mace and deliver a blow of such force to Zuma’s gang that it can never recover.
Representative democracy is always fraught with tension. As the pendulum in our system has swung too far towards despotism, it must be actively pulled back towards the middle ground and August 8 is, I fear, our generation’s last chance to make it happen. We should never forget that while democracy is a very bad form of government, all the others are much worse. James Cunningham Camps Bay