Zuma doesn’t want to be confused by the facts

In his response to the debate on his State of the Nation Address, Jacob Zuma demonstrated convincingly that he does not know, and doesn’t want to know.  He wants to carry on living in the state of ignorance he is imposing the country.

Not one of the suggestions or proposals raised by Opposition MPs has any merit in his opinion.  On the other hand, the praise heaped on him and his Government by ANC MPs draws his admiration and gratitude.  The most glaring of that is his affirmation that South Africa has an excellent social support program, supporting 16 million indigent people!  That is quite a statement.  This formerly vibrant economy has reached the point at which sixteen million people are so poor that they need State assistance!  That compares with the three and a half million taxpayers!  The only good thing that can be said about this state is that it is better now than it will be in one year!

Zuma made an impassioned plea that all South Africans fight against the scourge of racism.  The weak applause from perhaps half a dozen sycophants made a clear statement of the belief of the ANC MPs in the value of this plea, or, perhaps in the truthfulness of the man making it, a man who is viewed by many as being the main driver behind the development of racism during his Presidency.  Remember, this is the ex-terrorist whose theme song still is is ‘Bring me my machine gun’!

Listening closely to the words this man spouts, it is very difficult to overlook the fact that he has taken millions, if not billions, from State coffers for his personal benefit, who manipulated the workings of the National Prosecuting Authority to gain his freedom from prosecution on 783 criminal charges, who breached his Oath of Office on at least one matter and accompanied that with the breach of the Constitution.  Yet he can stand in Parliament, facing the MPs and citizens, urging the MPs to remember that they are there to represent the citizens!  If insincerity and failure to respect the intelligence of the voters were a crime, Zuma would be in prison for the next hundred years.  Perhaps he will, when the next (honest) Government comes to power and institutes investigations into his conduct over the years.

 

The President Responds - or Does he?

Anyone witnessing the televised debate in which President Zuma replied to questions by MPs on the State of the Nation Address must come to two, or possibly three, conclusions.

The first inescapable conclusion is that Zuma is adroit at ducking direct questions.  His replies, demanding direct and informative replies, were ducked or responded to with generalities and, where the MPs were not satisfied with the replies, he either denied having the information or simply denied any allegations or fingers pointed to him.  If he were the Managing Director of a company, his performance would have earned him a termination notice.  In this performance, he was ably assisted by the Speaker, who confirmed her allegiance to Zuma and to the ANC by quieting any difficult questioners.  It is noteworthy that, when an MP demanded that Zuma be asked to sit down while a point of order was being raised, as would be done to all other MPs, the Speaker stated clearly that Zuma and Buthelezi are not equal to other MPs and therefore cannot be treated in the same way.  It is now as official as it can be:  Jacob Zuma is not at the same level as other citizens in this ‘democracy’.  He is not subject to the same rules, regulations and laws as the rest of us.  If you have any doubt about the interpretation of the facts that citizens are able to observe from time to time, and more frequently as time goes on, that Jacob Zuma is building a power base to preserve his hold on power in South Africa by any means possible and necessary.

The second inescapable conclusion is that Zuma does not consider himself answerable to Parliament.  In the current dispensation, Parliament is no more than a discussion forum with rubber stamp powers, to approve what Zuma and his cronies want.  It is not a body that can demand real answers, put real questions to the Executive or demand real information, for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness, honesty or direction of the rulers of the country.  The South African ‘democracy’ has devolved into a quasi-dictatorship, in which the Constitution and the rules of Parliament are no more than inconvenient pieces of paper.

The third conclusion, if you wish to go that far, is that South Africa is heading rapidly towards the typical African Basket Case country, in which a core group of incapable and incompetent people are making all of the decisions.  They have already grabbed the power, a fact which is only now becoming clear, although they still feel the need to pull the wool over the eyes of the electorate.  The only question that remains is when Zuma will no longer feel the need to undergo this process which, apparently, is not a congenial one to him.

At a minimum, it is clear that any person who wishes to live in a progressive, modern society should be seriously concerned at the continued rule of this President.

State of the Nation – Karoo Fracking – Eskom Power Failures

One of the comments made by President Jacob Zuma during his 2015 State of the Nation Address related to a plan to use natural gas to drive the stand-by generators, rather than diesel fuel.  A little later in the address, the President commented that there is an abundance of natural gas in the Karoo, the exploitation of which on a test basis has been approved by the Minister of Energy, without the full consultative process having been completed.

The cynics amongst the audience immediately put 2+2 together, to come up with 20%.  It is noteworthy that the controversial project to exploit the Karoo shale is to be undertaken by Shell SA, in which the ANC has acquired a 20% stake during January 2015, and that the gas emanating from that project is the subject of an instruction by the Government to Eskom to become the fuel of choice.  One might be forgiven for wondering whether the recent power shortages suffered by the public at the hands of Eskom might have been engineered in order to ensure that the Karoo shale project proceeds, thereby paying handsome dividends to the ANC.  If this were not the case, one might wonder why the ANC and Shell SA have got into bed together at this stage.

Of course, in normal circumstances, no reasonable citizen would ask whether a governing Party would put its electorate to the extreme distress that the South African public and the South African economy are suffering merely to profit from such an underhanded deal.  In the case of the ANC, however, such a question might be pardoned, given the long history of such dealings in South Africa.

Of course, this is a rumour, and not yet proven fact.  It is the course of conduct one might expect from a Party that does not believe that it will be re-elected, and, of course, one could not apply that sort of thinking to the ANC.  Or could one?

Whatever the answer, the question is one that several people are already asking, and the Government, or, perhaps, the Public Protector, would be well-advised to investigate, in order to put to rest the suspicions raised against the most strongly-distrusted President in the history of the country.

No allegations are made or implied in this blog.  Just asking.