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- Jan 12, 2010
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Hey I thought I'd bring you a story from my homeland and allow you to take a break and indulge yourself in my outrage that you don't have a vested interest in.
Perhaps you'll find it therapeutic.
So this is my President... Jacob Zuma.
Or as I like to refer to him... Corrupt imbecile.
Here's just a taster of the mans complete idiocy, he does not have a High School education.
Even before he became President, he was linked to corruption in an Arms Procurement deal and various other dealings.
He was also accused of rape in 2005 and while he of course claimed the sex was consensual... He admitted to having unprotected sex with the woman who he knew was HIV positive whilst as Vice President at the time running the National AIDS Council and professed in open court that it was ok because he "took a shower after to cut the risk of transmission".
Somehow he survived both scandals and began to stack his political party (the ANC) with loyalists to make sure he had a strangehold on the party for good and it seems to have worked.
Despite the fact he is virtually universally reviled in the country except for a few hardcore supporters, he got away with spending almost $15 million USD in taxpayer funds on his personal residence in the countryside to allegedly "Make it secure" but included ampitheatre, visitors centre, cattle kraal, chicken run and most lampooned of all a "Fire Pool" to put out fires on the property should they arise...
Now in the end he was investigated for this and was, thank god forced to pay back to the treasury a decent portion of this but still, the fact he felt bold enough to do it in the first place is a very worrying sign.
It has also come to appear that a very wealthy family in South Africa, "the Guptas" had an enormous amount of influence over the President, allegedly so much so that they were able to influence the President to appoint people to cabinet positions they wanted.
This became so problematic that his dismissal of internationally respected Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene in favor of a nobody back bencher for opposing various spending plans by the President and his minions sent shockwaves through the South African financial system, the value of the currency dropped by almost 6 points that day and South Africas governmental bonds following the firing of the band aid he was forced to put as Finance Minister after that, Pravin Gordhan also internationally respected, got downgraded to junk status after he dismissed him as well following arguments over spending plans.
Despite all of this, one can only imagine the level of control he has over the executive body of the ANC and the rest of the party, given that the Opposition against all odds, was able to convince the Supreme Court to allow a secret ballot in parliament for a motion of No Confidence to get rid of him which failed, his level of control and ability to intimidate must be immense.
In desperation, Zuma has begun to tap into the dark side of populist politics using some Mugabe level rhetoric to try to blame South Africas ills not in his own shortcomings, but others including whites.
Local elections last year showed the ANC, having ruled South Africa with a massive majority since 1994 support may be beginning to wane, it is imperative for the good of the country that a different party get elected to government to show that a peaceful transfer of power is possible in the New South Africa because the fact is, is it has not been demonstrated yet.
So there you have it, if you've taken the time to read through this I hope you found it interesting and had the opportunity to read something political that wasn't personal to you so you don't have to get upset about it.
And here's to hoping for a bright future for the Republic...
Perhaps you'll find it therapeutic.
So this is my President... Jacob Zuma.
Or as I like to refer to him... Corrupt imbecile.
Here's just a taster of the mans complete idiocy, he does not have a High School education.
Even before he became President, he was linked to corruption in an Arms Procurement deal and various other dealings.
He was also accused of rape in 2005 and while he of course claimed the sex was consensual... He admitted to having unprotected sex with the woman who he knew was HIV positive whilst as Vice President at the time running the National AIDS Council and professed in open court that it was ok because he "took a shower after to cut the risk of transmission".
Somehow he survived both scandals and began to stack his political party (the ANC) with loyalists to make sure he had a strangehold on the party for good and it seems to have worked.
Despite the fact he is virtually universally reviled in the country except for a few hardcore supporters, he got away with spending almost $15 million USD in taxpayer funds on his personal residence in the countryside to allegedly "Make it secure" but included ampitheatre, visitors centre, cattle kraal, chicken run and most lampooned of all a "Fire Pool" to put out fires on the property should they arise...
Now in the end he was investigated for this and was, thank god forced to pay back to the treasury a decent portion of this but still, the fact he felt bold enough to do it in the first place is a very worrying sign.
It has also come to appear that a very wealthy family in South Africa, "the Guptas" had an enormous amount of influence over the President, allegedly so much so that they were able to influence the President to appoint people to cabinet positions they wanted.
This became so problematic that his dismissal of internationally respected Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene in favor of a nobody back bencher for opposing various spending plans by the President and his minions sent shockwaves through the South African financial system, the value of the currency dropped by almost 6 points that day and South Africas governmental bonds following the firing of the band aid he was forced to put as Finance Minister after that, Pravin Gordhan also internationally respected, got downgraded to junk status after he dismissed him as well following arguments over spending plans.
Despite all of this, one can only imagine the level of control he has over the executive body of the ANC and the rest of the party, given that the Opposition against all odds, was able to convince the Supreme Court to allow a secret ballot in parliament for a motion of No Confidence to get rid of him which failed, his level of control and ability to intimidate must be immense.
In desperation, Zuma has begun to tap into the dark side of populist politics using some Mugabe level rhetoric to try to blame South Africas ills not in his own shortcomings, but others including whites.
Local elections last year showed the ANC, having ruled South Africa with a massive majority since 1994 support may be beginning to wane, it is imperative for the good of the country that a different party get elected to government to show that a peaceful transfer of power is possible in the New South Africa because the fact is, is it has not been demonstrated yet.
So there you have it, if you've taken the time to read through this I hope you found it interesting and had the opportunity to read something political that wasn't personal to you so you don't have to get upset about it.
And here's to hoping for a bright future for the Republic...