Maikutlo Aka - My Views
What's Going on in SA?
Posted Monday, October 6, 2008
It's so hard to be trying to follow this from a distance. The South African newspapers -- at least, the ones I check -- seem to be avoiding the issue. If the president of any nation stepped down, you'd think it would be the main topic covered for days if not weeks, with reporters and the public asking why, how, what will happen? It seems like it was just another day in SA, and back to business as usual from what I've been reading. I can't tell if people are scared to speculate, or if everyone thinks it's just too early to say anything.
In short, Thabo Mbeki, the old president, was Mandela's V.P. In SA, there's basically only one party, but you might say Mbeki would have been a Republican in terms of economic policy, and a like Democrat in that he was often accused of being over-educated and elitist. He was not a man of the people. His economic policies were good for overall growth, but bad for poor people. The average South African was financially better off during apartheid, but many black South Africans have made a killing, which is why he was able to get support for so long.
Jacob Zuma is a perfect contrast. Where Mbeki is the son of a great leader and went to school overseas during the anti-apartheid struggle, Zuma is the son of a maid who fought in the trenches. Mbeki is distant, Zuma is charismatic. Mbeki wears suits, Zuma isn't afraid of embracing his Zulu heritage. Mbeki says neoliberalism, Zuma preaches populism. (The one thing they seem to have in common is that they both have atypical conceptions of HIV/AIDS...)
In a country tired of seeing the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, people are looking for a hero.
It's not that there aren't other heroes out there. But somehow a rape trial, and a corruption trial didn't turn people away, it only made JZ stronger in the eyes of the masses. Some seem to see him as a martyr, that the accusations were made by those previously in power out of fear that Zuma would take power.
And it seems as though Zuma has taken power, if not explicitly, then implicitly. I'm not sure anyone will ever really understand why Mbeki stepped down with the presidential elections only a year away. But Zuma's ally is now in office, sooner than any ordinary person thought possible.
My opinion... may not be good to share at this point this publicly if I want to be back soon :) Let me just say that I'm nervous. There's a lot of change that is possible, and I'm a fan of the populism Zuma speaks of. I'm not convinced that where there's smoke there's fire in the sense that just because he's not in jail doesn't mean he didn't do something wrong. He was cleared of both charges. I would love to see him step away from the economic policies of the previous government. I would love to see the single national party split so the country has competitive elections. So far, I don't quite trust Zuma to hold to his promises.
I just hope he does.
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