A red letter day

Call me a spoil-sport, but I didn’t wear red on Wednesday. I also ended up encouraging my son, despite the dress code stipulated, to wear a blue shirt to the Valentine’s Ball.

Apart from being a bit of a non-conformist, there were other things that got me more excited this Valentine’s Day, than the frenzy of finding something to wear in a dictated colour.

As far as colour is concerned - it was indeed a red letter day.

In South Africa, something very significant happened in the stepping down of (former) President Jacob Zuma. Considering he made this announcement on Valentine’s Day, the joke is that the classic Dear John letter, in South Africa at least, can now be replaced with a new version the Dear Jacob letter.

I caught myself watching the video clip of his announcement several times, almost like I did in 2001 when airplanes crashed into the World Trade Centre to confirm that seeing really is believing.

However, in the former case mentioned, at replay number three, I was expecting (maybe a little disrespectfully so) the sound of joyous cheers in the background.

Or even the chanting of Martin Luther King Jr’s famous quote: “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

Not generally one to conform, my thoughts slipped back to the #Zumamustfall campaign in April 2017. Thousands of South Africans dressed in black took to the streets in unison to march against a corrupt dictator and his administration that placed this country on a collision course. A joint action that paid off?

As much as we feel relief, according to political analysts, it is naive and premature to think that having Zuma removed is the immediate start of new golden era for our country. Journalist Tom Eaton, writes: “Zuma has shown his style, soon he will show his substance.” The post Zuma era will demand South Africans to show character.

Which brings me back to the love. Instead of gloating about Zuma’s downfall, look a litte further and take heart in our ability to stand together in reaching a common goal.

With the Zuma era seeing its demise on Valentine’s Day, maybe in time this could become a fairytale like story passed down from generation to generation.

“Long, long ago in a troubled country not too far away, a terrible tyrant ruled the land. And then, the people became upset and stood together and chased the bad leader away and they lived...as happily as possible.”