South Africa’s future not safe under Zuma
President Jacob Zuma’s statement that the ANC comes before South Africa encapsulates all that is wrong with his government and the damage it has done to our country. The President has made it clear where his loyalties lie – they lie with himself and his party; not with the people of South Africa.
If President Zuma is only interested in himself and the ANC he should make way for someone whose interests, first and foremost, are those of South Africa and its people. The many problems South Africa is facing – especially the crisis of youth unemployment – demands strong leadership and a President that puts his or her country first.
The President’s remarks have made South Africans angry because they reflect the current reality that sees those connected to the ANC benefit while those who are not continue to struggle without basic services and jobs. Without opportunities to get ahead and hope.
The President’s remarks explain his inaction against those within the ANC that damage our country through corruption and gross mismanagement. And they explain his failure to publically denounce the acquisition of a new presidential jet while our higher education system remains chronically underfunded. The country is also facing an unprecedented water crisis.
The President does not take his oath of office seriously which demands of him, “in full realisation of the high calling [he] assume[s] as President,” to “promote all that will advance the Republic, and oppose all that may harm it.”
In putting his interests first, as well as those of the ANC, the President is robbing South Africans of freedom and opportunity by putting their priorities second. While the ANC government has said that there is no money for higher education, the cost of the new presidential jet – reportedly R4 billion – could fund the following items instead:
- 13 000 university graduates, including all related costs for a 3-year degree
- 20 495 additional nurses for one year
- 8 fully equipped state hospitals
- 160 rural health clinics
- 22 000 additional police officers for one year
- 33 000 RDP houses
- 275 schools
The ANC under President Zuma has become synonymous with nepotism, patronage and crony capitalism. By the ANC’s own admission in their National General Council discussion document “many of the acts of corruption in government derive from party dynamics” with the incapacity of state institutions being the result of “patronage … and appointments that defy any rational logic.”
The President has failed to take a stance against those in his party who have been implicated in corruption – such as Pule Mabe who still sits as a Member of Parliament despite the damning findings against him in the Public Protector’s Derailed report into PRASA.
And nothing was done when the ANC’s Chancellor House was implicated in a corruption scandal that saw the ANC benefit financially from Eskom tenders while South Africans continue to suffer from the devastating effects of load shedding.
Instead the President slams ANC detractors such as Kgalema Motlanthe and Frank Chikane, referring to them as “cowards”, “irritants” and of being “politically bankrupt.”
Ultimately it is actions by the ANC government that costs the economy billions in corruption, decimates economic growth and destroys job opportunities. And it is the poor who suffer most as a result of the moral decay of the ANC as they are the most vulnerable to poor service delivery and chronic unemployment.
President Zuma’s uncaring remarks emphasise the need to replace the ANC government with a DA government that will always put South Africa first. A DA government that will stop corruption, fight crime, deliver services and create jobs. A DA government that will build a society based on freedom, fairness and opportunity for all.
Issued by Mabine Seabe, Spokesperson to the DA Leader, 9 November 2015
