Z is for...?

Machine guns, marriage, corruption charges - Zuma is the man of the hour. The amazing thing is, even people who don't want him elected are talking about him. This means he is getting the majority focus, and that - if you are not a Zuma supporter - is bad news.

The solution then - if you would prefer another candidate to lead the country - is for the maximum number of people to focus on the candidate they DO want, rather than to focus on why they DON'T want Zuma. After all, what resists persists. So who DO you want to lead the country? Focus on that candidate.

Now, Z is for...who?

"This is how liberty dies - to thunderous applause"

Benjamin Franklin told people that America was "to be a Republic, if you can keep it."

So you want to know how to unravel a Republic? Well, the first thing is that the best predictor - I'm afraid to say - of future behaviour, is past behaviour. Hence, if you're considering getting married and you haven't been faithful to girlfriends, if you don't have that track record, odds are, you will remain a letch. In the same way, if you're not yet a Big Time politician and you're already being prosecuted for corruption, chances are, when you (think you) can get away it, being in a position of greater power, you'll go for it again.

For a while there I had given Zuma the benefit of the doubt. Now I am back to thinking it is craziness to elect someone who has already proved himself to be, well, unacceptable as a leader. The same can be said for members of SARU. Nonetheless, in South Africa, we seem incapable of facing the obvious, and not only that, doing something about the obvious.

A great everyday example is this: In Johannesburg I fairly often find myself driving by the scenes of car accidents. Without fail, within seconds of this glaringly obvious public demonstration of the consequence of recklessness, a driver will do some daring (and unnecessary) manuoevre to get ahead. I rest me case. We get the leaders we deserve, because at the moment we don't deserve better than we are getting, or giving.

For the movie version of what I am saying - and I am very serious - watch Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith. People are highly susceptible to being stirred by their own passion. It is how we drown reason, and deliver ourselves unto evil. You have been warned. The race is now on to see who gets there - to a state of Empire - first, us or the USA.

Apartheid 2

It's shocking that a lot of black people are describing the current government as 'worse than apartheid. The first time I saw these opinions I was inclined to dismiss them as fringy rants. Look at this shortlist of the same story, different black writer:

Just Like Apartheid (front page headline in the Sowetan today)
Deafening silence as Mbeki and Co reduce South Africa to a state of fear
Was the country run better under apartheid?

Now, the point isn't that Apartheid is 'better' or worse, the point is simply that government is SO infernally bad, that it's being compared unfavorably to an even more horrible government. The point is: the state of the nation politically is awful.

The question then becomes: what can we do about it? I suggest taking a leaf out of Bullard's book (by the way he told us it will be available on Wednesday for about R120). What can we do? Impeach the president.
(Read Bullard's article here.)
Call for change. Let the Bokke do their thing, but for everyone else the buck stops where it starts. All people in agreement say AYE...