POLITICS

Zuma doesn't know in which direction the country is going – AfriBusiness

Not enough to highlight issues, the country wants to hear how the govt plans to fix it, says Law and Policy Analyst Armand Greyling

Zuma has some explaining to do

9 February 2016

President Jacob Zuma must surely be feeling the pressure as the deadline for his State of the Nation Address draws near. One can only hope that he will approach this matter seriously, as Parliament and the public must by now surely have had enough of his signature laugh when he has to face with the facts and questions regarding his leadership (or complete lack thereof). This is the opinion of Armand Greyling, Law and Policy Analyst at AfriBusiness.

“We think that most of South Africa will agree that Zuma has some explaining to do. Nobody knows in which direction the country is going, and it would seem as though Zuma himself has no clear direction in mind, as his unpredictability clearly shows. What further frustrates South Africans is his lack of responsibility or complete ignorance of the fact that his actions have a direct impact on our future and reputation in the rest of the world,” Greyling added.

It wouldn’t be enough for Zuma to simply highlight the issues that the country currently faces by saying that Government was concerned about these issues and would intervene. The ANC has been concerned with these issues since 1994 – it is time to face the fact that the ANC Government is failing the country. South Africans want to know what Government is doing, not what it is going to do.

“We believe what South Africans really want clarity on is what is being done to improve international opinion on South Africa and to retain current investors and attract new foreign investment. They also want to know what Government is doing to address our poor economic growth and consequent job losses; they want to know what is being done regarding the increasing instability in the mining sector,” Greyling continued.

South Africans will especially be interested in the Constitutional Court’s findings on if and how Zuma has to pay back taxpayers’ money after the Nkandla debacle and the Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on this matter. Our Constitution must be upheld to be above political motive and to prove that something is indeed in place to regulate Government, instead of allowing the chaos we find ourselves in to flourish.

One thing is for certain: No leader in the rest of the developing world would want to be in Zuma’s shoes. He certainly has a difficult task ahead of him and if he attempts to mislead the country yet again, he will feel its discontent with his leadership in the upcoming municipal elections.

Issued by Armand Greyling, Law and Policy Analyst, AfriBusiness, 9 February 2016