A Third World Perspective
S.A. Deputy President Zuma Comes Under Heavy Fire in Print Media
The blurring of the lines between party and government and between politics and business is something that needs to be attended to if we are to avoid the institutionalised corruption that constitutes American politics and which has seen so many countries on our continent fail to achieve progress.
Mail & Guardian
Making uKhahlamba (Drakensberg) out of a molehill. This is the government’s appraisal of a week that has rocked the country as its second-in-command, Jacob Zuma, stands accused of becoming a rent-a-deputy-president...
This is not a molehill, it is a mountain. Zuma’s approach this week is that it is a storm that will blow over — in fact, he set off for a conference on desertification in Havana, Cuba. Despite the ruling party and the government’s rallying around him, let there be no mistake: Zuma is in a political desert. He has two options: to stand down or to take the nation into his confidence, not with the blustering, obfuscatory and blanket denials he’s issued until now, but by answering the very substantial allegations made against him...
If the deputy president’s contention is that he does not owe the nation answers, then the honourable thing for him to do would be to step down. Over the past four weeks, Zuma has had no compuction about attacking the Scorpions in public and accusing them of having ulterior agendas. He now needs to move beyond those blustery defences and tell us in detail why the unit is not to be trusted. He needs to tell us why the nation should regard Shaik as a more trustworthy individual than Ngcuka. He needs to assure us — through detailed explanations of his financial situation — that he is not “owned” by anyone, as the charge sheet indicates. He needs to prove to us that decisions affecting this sovereign nation will never be unduly influenced by his alleged relationship with a defence company that has close ties to the French government.
Zuma’s image and reputation now lie in tatters. What the nation read and heard about him this week raises serious questions about whether he is presidential material — or even whether he should be in the seat he is currently occupying. He needs to take steps to restore the public’s trust in him and his office. The storm will not blow over...
The tender system, through which the state purchases goods and services from the private sector, is the locale of so much graft that it is obviously filled with holes that need to be fixed. The blurring of the lines between party and government and between politics and business is something that needs to be attended to if we are to avoid the institutionalised corruption that constitutes American politics and which has seen so many countries on our continent fail to achieve progress. more...
Background
It all started here
Zuma for sale
