There are some things we now know which we did not know until recently.
We now know that the failure of such a lot of our infrastructure is not just the result of ineptitude and corruption, but also, in all probability, the effect of deliberate sabotage.
Which brings us to my first question: is there a faction in the ruling party, and among its supporters, that is actively trying to destroy South Africa as a developed and developing state?
If so, why?
Are they actually trying to turn back the clock, to return, so to speak, to this country as it existed before the arrival of the settlers?
Is that even possible? If so, how?
This question, I’m afraid, should be asked in tandem with another question, a question which, to be truthful, has bothered me for years.
It is: why is Jacob Zuma still so popular among large segments of our population?
Oh, I know, I know, the mainstream media is trying hard to downplay the effects of the Zuma faction. They are trying to do this, in part, because of expediency – one shouldn’t give too much publicity to this kind of madness – but also because they cannot really believe it could be true.
The fact that Jacob Zuma is, after all these years, still a free man is a terrible reflection of the present state of South Africa.
The fact that Jacob Zuma is, after all these years, still a free man is nothing short of an insult to the principles of accountability, and every idea of rightness and fairness in existence on this planet.
Read in Daily Maverick: “South Africa is running on empty. And so, a different kind of Black Friday looms”
Not only is Jacob Zuma still a free man, but he also seems to have the support of a sizeable part of the South African populace.
Not only does he have their support. He has commanded, and still commands, apparent blind allegiance and hero worship bordering on the fanatical.
In the eyes of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of my fellow South Africans, Jacob Zuma is some kind of a messiah. He has, inexplicably, become the symbol of brave resistance to some real or imagined oppression which only exists in the minds of his followers.
Indeed: Zuma is not the only person suffering from the delusion that he is being unfairly targeted by the powers that be.
That, perhaps, is the biggest mystery of all: the sheer number of people who sincerely believe, like Zuma himself, that he has never been a corrupt politician but is, instead, the victim of a corrupt political and legal system.
Which brings one to the point: these people who support Zuma and his ideas, are they enemies of the system? What if they do not merely want the legal system, and the educational system, and all the other trappings of so-called civilisation, to be reformed, to be made somehow “free of imperialist influences”, but annihilated altogether?
Zuma’s misdemeanours are well documented. Many high-standing members of the legal profession have pointed out, in great detail, his numerous missteps and transgressions of the law. Numerous journalists have investigated his secret dealings and more than one book has been published outlining every aspect of his career, every incident of entitlement, every nuance of corruption, every blatantly harmful policy decision of which he has been guilty.
Yet the countless fans of Jacob Zuma, as Zuma himself, are of a different opinion.
Not only do they see him as a victim. In their eyes, he is a nice guy, a person with leadership skills, with charisma, a man fit to be the leader of this country.
They do not see him as a common thief. They do not believe he should be in jail.
This would be a laughable situation were it not to be that, should Zuma go back to jail, there is little doubt that these vast numbers of his supporters will once again attempt to take to the streets to force anarchy on our country.
Why?
What hold does this man have on his thousands (and perhaps millions) of supporters?
Why do they not see him the way the majority (I hope) of South Africans see him?
Why are they prepared to drag our country into anarchy in defence of this one person?
What on Earth has he done to deserve such blind and unwavering support of the masses?
This is the rub. There is some kind of fault line here. For those of us who fail to understand the reasoning behind this collective madness, this is the paradox, this is the hidden spot of contention, this is perhaps one of the main reasons our country and our democracy are failing.
It is something we simply have to understand, never mind how impossible it seems.
Read in Daily Maverick: “The post-revolutionary blues — it’s probably much more serious than we thought”
For if we fail to understand it, if we just continue to shake our heads and shrug it off as something so crazy that we will never be able to get to grips with it, we run the risk of missing an opportunity to try to fix the problem, to address the hidden message behind this madness.
Is it merely a black-white thing? Surely not. Though Zuma has many supporters among the black populace, there are also many, probably the majority, who do not support him and the ideas he stands for.
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Perhaps we have to ask ourselves the most difficult question of all: what does Jacob Zuma stand for?
What does he want?
What is his vision for South Africa?
Is it safe to assume that, whatever he wants, and however he sees this country, and whatever he stands for, is, in some enigmatic way, somehow a valid point of view, a perspective, if you can call it that, which is shared by his followers?
Surely these people, some of whom are prepared to defend Zuma even to the point of sacrificing their lives, are not simply loyal to him because they think he is a nice guy, or because of his so-called charisma, or whatever. Surely there must be more to it than that!
And, if there is indeed more to it than that, we have to assume that they agree with his ideas, and that they understand his thought processes.
Incredible as it is, Zuma’s thought processes obviously resonate with his followers.
These people are, in effect, members of a grouping of adherents to what we could call the gospel according to Zuma.
We could reject this gospel.
And perhaps we should.
But I have a feeling that, if we really want to fix this country, if we ever hope to establish some kind of consensus among all South Africans, if we want to find a way to make our democracy work, we need to try to understand the message of this gospel and find out why so many people believe in it.
Is it possible for those of us who oppose Zuma to understand his gospel? I’m not sure.
But, without a doubt, for as long as Zuma is still out of jail, and for as long as his supporters continue to yell his name in adulation, and for as long as we fail to engage with these people, understand their grievances and figure out a way of helping them to participate meaningfully in this debate instead of sowing anarchy and chaos, our country will remain a problem unsolved, an offence unforgiven, a crime unpunished, a riddle impossible to comprehend, and a festering wound for which healing remains forever out of reach. DM
I Wonder(apologies to Joe Jackson)if Zuma and his click uses magic mushrooms or maybe mescaline buttons
Dude, if they did this they would see the wrongfulness of their ways and repent.
Which of course seeds an idea…
Understanding who is bank-rolling Zuma gives a clue to the question posed by this thought-provoking article. Mr Liebenberg is the latest, and he clearly is a thoroughly unsavoury character, which suggests that Zuma has no ideology at all and is prepared to accept money from anyone who can help him stay out of jail.
For a very long time it has not just been Ju-Ju in deep cahoots with illegal tobacco and there very many billions, but the entire Zuma family. So cosying up to individuals of great but “skanky” wealth is clearly not an issue for Zuma which gets us close to understanding his attractiveness for some people whose own sources of wealth might be extremely dubious, and/or are looking for a quick way to get rich with no effort = to hell with the costs and the consequences for the rest of South Africans.
Zuma’s popularity is based on the same reason Trump is so popular and Brazil’s Bolsonaro has such support – an uneducated electorate impressed by grandiose gestures of power!
Agree Jane, especially here in SA. Thanks for the article Joe. One guy takes on the whole system, dupes everyone… and wins – impressive to anyone actually is terms of achievement. Appeals though especially I guess to so many in SA still with bitterness because of apartheid. That is the legacy we have to deal with. Too late now though he has pretty much wrecked all our chances of a happy life here .
You’re so right!! But all the comments below also add to this. Zuma is uneducated and cannot comprehend what democracy is all about
I think the mindset is kingship (often warlord-ship). Zuma believes that he achieved kingship, and a king can have everything he wants, and demands loyalty. Democracy and the rule of law is not what his supporters wanted – they have achieved proximity to the king through tribal links, which gave them relative power, which they defend.
The kingship idea has an interesting corolary: it splits the RET crowd into two – Leninist and royalist.
This suggests that the RET faction has an ideology…. Apart from personal enrichment of course.
This an excellent question deserving of some following up studies. Deserving of some input, so my hat is in the pile. Understanding and action is necessary if we are to avoid another insurrection.
My thinking is that there is the personality cult, the ‘Big Man’ issue of politics. This enabled him to climb the ladder despite the warning signs that were obvious earlier.
Once in power, he used the levers of power to build a following through patronage and enabling underlings, not necessarily supporters, to further their own agendas. As you stated his ability to avoid consequences had set an example for others. This sets up two layers of followers, those in close contact and those who simply just found the gate open! Both are threatened by action against Zuma.
The fight back is, in my opinion, not so much for Zuma but against the consequences!
The biggest failure of the South African Dream is the Police Services, its management and its intelligence collection division. Fix this and a lot of other problems will be resolved, including the sabotage at Eskom, the burning of trucks, attacks on busses and public transport, and the construction mafia.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. A whole army of civil servants have as you say “found the gate open”. They have got away with being paid inflated salaries for little or no work and continue to do so. It is them that are fighting back.
It’s called Stockholme syndrome.
A really helpful article in that it stands back and considers the wider implications of there having been a silent majority for so long. Zuma is but one enigma of many others. Why was Mandela so wonderful as an individual, but so focused on the ANC as to miss the promise of a new South Africa needing a new beginning? Why did Mbeki fail with HIV? Why does Ramaphosa not have the courage to lead as the nation’s President? Why has racism of one type been replaced by another? At the end of the day, ethics and morality are absent in leadership, culture has replaced principle, and we accept that in our silence. Sadly, politicians simply don’t have those qualities, and they are captured by the siren song of ballots. Only when we lift our eyes above the worldly morass, and return to honour, will the leaders emerge who can develop paths for the silent majority to follow to a better future for all.
It’s mystifying but I suspect a kind of post-colonial world-making (Fanonesque) may explain some of the support that Zuma et al still attract: the kind of thinking that says break it all down – nothing the colonizer has created is worth saving because it is all tainted. To the extent that Zuma stands for anything, it seems to be a reverence for African traditions and a desire to return to traditional pre-colonial ways. Democracy and the rule of law are Western concepts that are foreign and alien to many Africans I suspect – despite all the benefits we assume are so obvious to all. Breaking down the actual and perceived barriers between colonizer and colonised identities must ultimately be the key to making progress together. Is it even possible for us to see each other first and foremost as fellow human beings with essentially similar needs and dreams?
Couldn’t it just be a question of smart and intelligent use of the ignorance of a part of the masses of the population and not something magic?
The history of support for those charged with crimes in our communities is an old culture because the system of Apartheid created hatred for the criminal justice system in communities. You can go to any of our courts you will find that those who are charged with crimes ranging from car theft, hijacking, robbery and other physical crimes not only have family in courts but friends and members of the community. It is worse in drug cases that involves gangsters. It is only new to have support of gender based violence victims. The support for those who committed crimes of corruption has become an ANC culture and they started with Tony Yengeni and Schabir Shaik and the supporters included the then ANC SG, Kgalema Motlanthe who is dry cleaning himself these days. The ANC that has appropriated to itself as ” leader of society” includes leading the support for those who face serious criminal charges. Different factions support those in their faction. The country is told of a renewal that cannot be envisioned.
Engaging with supporters of criminals in particular those who have committed very serious crimes against the people of South Africa and their state is asking
for too much. The law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system must come hard on these criminals even with the support they have and the
author can go to courts and engage with those who support people with dastardly crimes. Renewal is an attempt to con the electorate in the face of losses at the ballot box.
I fear that my comment is going to be labelled as racist in some way but I have come round to believing that we ascribe too much Westernisation to the majority of blacks in this country. Intrinsically, they believe in the tribal system with the chief being basically elected by God (even though merely being the eldest son of the current chief is actually the main force). And even more so, then this chief is infallible and perpetually innocent of any crime as what he does is ALWAYS right and just. The problem is a simple one of the large majority of SA citizens not being educated and nurtured in the principles of democracy and equality from childbirth. This is born out by the blatant inferior treatment of women by black males and the incredible rape statistics which are orders of magnitude higher than any other 1st or 2nd world country. Black women are considered lesser beings by their male counterparts in a very large percentage of the group. Just ask any black woman who is not a CEO or senior corporate person.
So Zuma perpetuates this concept – he has how many wives and children – all exemplify the male being number one and the female there just to service him. It’s going to take several generations to educate and nurture this out of the current population. Zuma not too subtly plays this card again and again and his followers lap it up because they are also in this exact frame of reference too, even the women who have been indoctrinated from birth as to this hierarchy and therefor going against this is impossible. South Africa has to grow up and it’s going to take another few generations to get there.I fear that my comment is going to be labelled as racist in some way but I have come round to believing that we ascribe too much Westernisation to the majority of blacks in this country. Intrinsically, they believe in the tribal system with the chief being basically elected by God (even though merely being the eldest son of the current chief is actually the main force). And even more so, then this chief is infallible and perpetually innocent of any crime as what he does is ALWAYS right and just. The problem is a simple one of the large majority of SA citizens not being educated and nurtured in the principles of democracy and equality from childbirth. This is born out by the blatant inferior treatment of women by black males and the incredible rape statistics which are orders of magnitude higher than any other 1st or 2nd world country. Black women are considered lesser beings by their male counterparts in a very large percentage of the group. Just ask any black woman who is not a CEO or senior corporate person.
So Zuma perpetuates this concept – he has how many wives and children – all exemplify the male being number one and the female there just to service him. It’s going to take several generations to educate and nurture this out of the current population. Zuma not too subtly plays this card again and again and his followers lap it up because they are also in this exact frame of reference too, even the women who have been indoctrinated from birth as to this hierarchy and therefor going against this is impossible. South Africa has to grow up and it’s going to take another few generations to get there.
My apologies for the double insert. The webpage had a glitch in it when entering the initial comment with a block overlaying the comment block hence one could not make out whether the comment had been posted in the first place – and I was not able to go back and edit!
One word: patronage.
I’d like to hear from more people in the black communities of South Africa. If this has to do with culture, what we whites think is supposition. The author of the article is asking genuine questions. How are we to understand – given (of course) that there are also millions of black people that may be equally dumbstruck? I’m not, personally, interested in all the “white” comments.
Yes, me neither. None of us understand it because we’re not Zulu. Maybe Johnny Clegg would have got it.
Sadly, I think the answer lies in the fact that SA is effectively now a Gangster State. Social dysfunction and decay facilitates organised crime and Zuma’s efforts in this regard to destroy the justice system and fuel social unrest are doubtless being funded by various mafia bosses. He was involved in ANC and then SA security systems and has retained strong links to rogue secret police in the pay of organised crime.