Thabo Mbeki in happier times.
One of the most striking characteristics of the run-up to South Africa’s elections has been the indecent rush to endorse Jacob Zuma by the country’s political class. Almost as soon as the national prosecutor announced the dropping of corruption charges against Zuma, the number of people claiming to be his friend increased dramatically. No obstacle was left to stop him becoming President, and so the mob hurried to prove they had been on his side all along.
That entailed very publicly sticking the knife into Thabo Mbeki, most commonly via open letters to the press and media. These missives denounce Mbeki as man of corruption for having instigated the charges against Zuma for political reasons, and for using his high office to persecute a colleague. They do not deliberate on whether the charges against Zuma had any validity.
Many of those rushing to proclaim their
Wal Burns
So plus ça change and the new bourgeoisie rise to the top while paying iconic homage to the champions who trekked through the veldt of martyrdom during all those despairing decades of apartheid-imposed poverty and racial humiliation. Good for President Nelson Mandela, who had the grace to retire after one term and live fairly modestly, not camping it around South Africa and the world in the bombastic role of the Great Man. Mbeki’s successors would do well to heed the words of Albert Camus, an advocate of morality in politics, who wrote that “la démocratie est l’exercice politique et social de la modestie” within a ‘civilization of dialogue’. Those champions of revolution who forget their ancestry are set on a circular course leading to a return to conditions that the revolution was supposed to replace.
FRANCISCA 'MAPITSO MATSOHA
Everyone of us should learn to forgive, forgive and forget. Let us now not dwell on the past, but consider the present and look into the future; there is a lot to be done: Cultivate Characteristics of Good Governance and focus on Development of the Country. During ANC’s last Rally there was a pluggerd writen Zuma is Jesus Christ, given that Comrade Zuma should forgive everybody and say ” Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” Comrade Zuma behumble yourself and God shall lift you very high.
Thank you
FRANCISCA ‘MAPITSO MATSOHA