More DA trickery

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly." - Albert Einstein

After the SONA last week, DA Parliamentary Leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko, was interviewed outside Parliament by eNCA. She was asked what she thinks of the speech, and she gave her (surprise, surprise) negative comments. At the end, she was asked if she has any positive comments on the Zuma administration. She said that she wants to congratulate Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on his leadership to drive down the HIV/AIDS infection rate. She said further: "This is a project for which the Minister has to be credited. Any minister who achieve something, does so of his or her own volition, and the President cannot be credited for it."

How foolish can one be? But I don't think foolishness has as much to do with it, as the campaign the DA is waging against President Jacob Zuma. And they would use any and all opportunities to discredit him. In the DA, nothing happens without the say-so of the Leader, Helen Zille. And any attempts to "go it alone" by a DA member, is met with opposition, and such a person would feel it. Lindiwe knows this personally, as she was quickly replaced as the DA's rising star by Mmusi Maimane, after she convened a DA black caucus last year, in support of ANC-sponsored legislation on employment equity and black economic empowerment.

In the ANC, its a different story. Let me use the HIV/AIDS campaign as an example to demonstrate. In 2007, the ANC National Conference in Polokwane decided that the policy on HIV/AIDS is wrong, and needs to be amended. This Conference did, and it also gave a mandate to the deployees in Government to effect this immediately.

When Motsoaledi became the minister of health, he took this mandate to heart, and immediately proposed a campaign to bring down the infection rate and resultant deaths from the pandemic. This proposal was discussed in Cabinet, and agreed to. It then became the policy of Government.

The Minister went to Parliament, and in his budget vote, dedicated massive amounts of money to the intensified fight against the scourge. But even the money is something that Cabinet, collectively, agreed to. So, the Minister cannot be solely credited with this success. In fact, we normally credit such victories to the President, who is leading our deployees in Government.

The fact is, any Government achievement does not fall from the skies. It is something that gets discussed by the National Executive Committee (NEC), the ANC's highest decision-making body between Conferences. Than, if agreed to, it would become a proposal to Cabinet, where the final decision is made to implement.

But this, the DA would never tell the world. They would never admit that the ANC is the most democratic organisation in South Africa. They would never agree that this country is moving forward because of the ANC. Maybe if Zuma is no longer President of the ANC or the Republic could they get themselves so far to admit that the ANC is what is best for South Africa. But, as yet, their mindless and deeply personal war against the President is clouding their minds.

We know that there was a bitter battle of ideas between Tony Leon and President Thabo Mbeki before, but even than, Leon had the grace to admit when the President; his party, and/or his administration, did something right. But right now, the DA of Helen Zille has foolishly decided to single out the President as public enemy number one, and all bad things are being ascribed to his "immoral and corrupt leadership". I'm sure that if they could, the DA of Helen Zille would even blame the President for people getting flu!

I would like, for one, to see the DA taking on an issue on merit, rather than their dislike, and even hatred, of President Jacob Zuma. But again, what do you expect from an immature group of losers? What they did on Thursday, at the SONA, made me loose the last grain of respect I might have had for them. The majority party, as well as some opposition parties and guests in the gallery, stood up to applaud the President, after he delivered the SONA.

But the DA refused to acknowledge the SONA, going against established protocol. Even if you do not like what you heard, you still acknowledge your president. This happens in all matured democracies. Even at the height of bipartisan rivalry in the US, the Republicans still applauded Obama after he delivered the State of the Union Address. In England, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron has never experienced this type of shunting from the opposition benches.

Like it or not, the fact is, the majority of voters in the last general elections decided that they wanted the ANC to govern; knowing that Jacob Zuma would be the President of the Republic. And in a democracy, this means that he became the president of even those who did not vote for the ANC. But the self-proclaimed so-called "guardians of the Constitution" does not acknowledge this aspect of our democracy. In fact, they only accept the provisions that either benefit them, or which they can use in their battle against the President. I'm sure that if Jacob Zuma was not president of the ANC, the DA would never have marched on Luthuli House.

To the President, I have a word of advise: Don't let the DA antics distract you from the job at hand. In the words of Criss Jami, "It's not about going around trying to stir up trouble. As long as you're honest and you articulate what you believe to be true, somebody somewhere will become your enemy whether you like it or not." And to that, I can only add the wise words of Shannon L Adler, "You will face your greatest opposition when you are closest to your biggest miracle." Do not legitimise them by taking too much notice of their babble, just continue to do the work that you know needs to be done, in order to ensure a better life for all South Africans. As we say in Afrikaans, "doen so voort"

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