Zuma like apartheid bosses

DEAR Mr Zuma (sorry I find it difficult to call you Mr President),

Over the term of your presidency, the population of South Africa has heard you speak about apartheid and its legacy. Indeed, these were very sad and disgusting times in our history. Today I was thinking about how our people suffered under that regime. Some examples: ● Poverty; ● Poor, inadequate schooling and school facilities; ● Lack of housing; ● Loss of dignity; ● Oppression of the poor majority; and ● Unemployment for the majority of the population. Yes, you may argue, there were other aspects of apartheid I have not mentioned above, but I think my list identifies some of the primary issues of that time.

So, Mr Zuma, ask yourself this question: “Do these issues still remain?”

If you are honest with yourself you have to agree they do, all of them. The point I want to make with you Mr Zuma is that while you run the government the way you do, and while you are enriching yourself, these problems do indeed remain.

So, then I ask, what makes the current regime any different to the apartheid regime?

You and your government have failed to channel funds in to the right areas such as decent schools and schooling, proper housing and creating employment. You, and your government have therefore deprived the majority of the population of their dignity through enriching yourself and others close to you.

So Mr Zuma, I say perhaps you and your government are no better than your apartheid counterparts all those years ago? So please, all of you in the ANC NEC, stop patting yourselves on the back for what you think you have achieved when at grassroots level, the issues remain the same.

Zuma, the government of this country, has failed dismally under your leadership. Step down before it’s too late. In the meantime, should we hang a portrait of you next to the Krugers, Verwoerds, and Vorsters of this world because you have failed just like them?

In a way, what is happening now is just as abhorrent as the atrocities committed under apartheid. Do what is right for the downtrodden majority of this country, step down Zuma. — Neil Smith, via e-mail