Commentary: Zuma himself and the ANC expect us to respect Zuma. What
they do not understand is that respect is something you have to earn and not
something you demand because you are the president. Irrespective of the fact
that he turned South Africa into a third rate junk yard, his stupid, idiotic
public utterances and the fact that he changes his tune as the wind blows according to his audience is something laughable. Here are some few examples of how he
changed his tune as the wind blows, in other words how he changed his story
according to the composition of his audience:
On racism:
Zuma in January 2016 after the ANC's 104th anniversary
celebrations in Rustenburg, North West:
"With time,
people have tended to exaggerate the issue of racism because they say SA is
still a racist country – not true. We defeated racism when we pursued the
non-racial society. Our society is a rainbow nation, it's a non-racial
society."
vs
Zuma speaking at an event marking the 24th anniversary of
the death of anti-apartheid activist Chris Hani in Boksburg in April 2017:
"We have not yet
succeeded to build a non-racial society. There is a resurgence of racism in our
country."
On homosexuality:
Zuma speaking at the Shaka Day commemoration in KwaDukuza,
KwaZulu-Natal, in September 2006:
"Same-sex
marriage is a disgrace to the nation and to God… when I was growing up,
unqingili [homosexuals] could not stand in front of me."
vs
Zuma in a statement four days later in September 2006:
"I also respect,
acknowledge and applaud the sterling contribution of many gay and lesbian
compatriots in the struggle that brought about our freedom, and the role they
continue to play in the building of a successful non-racial, non-discriminatory
South Africa."
On the Afrikaner
community:
Zuma during a fundraising gala dinner in Cape Town in
January 2015:
"A man with the
name of Jan van Riebeeck arrived in the Cape on 6 April 1652... What followed
were numerous struggles and wars and deaths and the seizure of land and the
deprivation of the indigenous peoples' political and economic power. "The
arrival of Van Riebeeck disrupted South Africa's social cohesion, repressed
people and caused wars."
vs
Zuma in an interview with Beeld newspaper in February 2011
shortly after being voted president:
"They are the
only white group who can lay claim to the fact that they also fought for their
freedom, against the Brits... they died in concentration camps. They made a
contribution to the development of South Africa and helped make it what it is
today. They are an important group. They are the kind of group that doesn't carry
two passports, only one."
On God and the ANC:
Zuma during a fundraising gala dinner in Cape Town in
January 2015:
"The ANC is on
the side of the people and God is on the side of the ANC. We cannot lose."
vs
Zuma during a Black Business Council gala dinner in
September 2016:
"No one will ever
come from anywhere to help us, only in the olden days God could be sympathetic
and send his son to come and help."
On human rights:
Zuma in September 2012 in response to a question in the
National Assembly on wage negotiations at Lonmin mine:
"Sorry, we have more rights here because we are a
majority. You have fewer rights because you are a minority. Absolutely, that's
how democracy works. So, it is a question of accepting the rules within
democracy and you must operate in them."
vs
Zuma during the commemoration of Human Rights Day on March
21, 2017, in King William's Town in the Eastern Cape:
"Our country now
enjoys a stable constitutional democracy where everyone is entitled to equal human
rights because of the sacrifices of the people."
On the use of
violence by police:
Zuma in June 2015 at
Tshwane University of Technology's Soshanguve campus while addressing several
thousand people during his Siyahlola Presidential Monitoring Programme visit:
"The culture of apartheid that used violence to
suppress people will have to be looked at again, and I don't want it. We don't
want the police to use violence because they are stopping violence."
vs
Zuma said in September 2015 during a ceremony at the Union
Buildings in remembrance of police officers killed in the past year:
"We urge you to
defend yourselves with everything at your disposal if you are attacked, within
the confines of the law. Our laws allow the police to fight back decisively
when their lives or those of the public are threatened."
On the courts and the
judiciary:
Zuma during a debate in the National House of Traditional
Leaders in Pretoria in April 2016:
"I'll be very happy that we solve the African problems
in the African way because if we solve them only legally they become too
complicated. Law looks at one side only, they don't look at any other thing.
They deal with cold facts and I was complaining [about] that, but they're
dealing with warm bodies. That's the contradiction."
vs
Zuma during his keynote address at the Access to Justice
Conference in July 2011:
"Judicial
independence and the rule of law are the pillars of democratic systems
worldwide."
On combatting
HIV/Aids:
Zuma said in April 2006 under cross-examination after being
charged with the rape of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, of which he was ultimately
acquitted:
"[A shower] would
minimise the risk of contracting the disease [AIDS]."
vs
Zuma in April 2010 after publicly revealing his HIV test
results:
"We have to work
harder, together, to fight the perceptions and the stigma. We have to expand
the knowledge and understanding of the epidemic to protect affected individuals
and families."
On Julius Malema:
Zuma in October 2009 during a visit to Malema's hometown of
Seshego in Limpopo where the ANC Youth League leader, at the time, had helped
to build a house and a church:
"The ANC
recognises talent and leadership and we give people an opportunity. Julius has
illustrated that he is indeed a good leader and that he understands the
people."
vs
Zuma in February 2017 during a TNA Breakfast Briefing in
Cape Town after the EFF disrupted his SONA:
"If for an
example you are dealing with an organisation that was established by young
people who were expelled from the ANC‚ they must be angry with the ANC. They
must be trying their level best to fight back but they don't know how.
Democracy is not about angry young people. Democracy is about debating things.
Debating what we need to do for our country."
On Nkandla:
Zuma said in response to a question by an EFF MP during a
parliamentary sitting in March 2015:
"Never have I
ever thought on the date when I will pay back the money. Firstly, there is no
money that I am going to be paying back without a determination by those who
are authorised to do so as recommended by the Public Protector. The Public
Protector has not said pay back the money. The Public Protector has said… where
[there is] undue benefit to the family or myself, she thinks this money might
be paid back. But this should be determined by the minister of police.”
"That
determination has not been done. Why do you say I should pay back the money?
You don't even know how much."
vs
Zuma in April 2016 after the Constitutional Court's ruling
that he had unduly benefited from non-security upgrades to his Nkandla home:
"I have
consistently stated that I would pay an amount towards the Nkandla non-security
upgrades once this had been determined by the correct authority. I would like
to emphasise that it was never my intention not to comply with the remedial
action taken against me by the Public Protector or to disrespect her
office."
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