Would the real Jacob Zuma please stand up?

Submitted by Carl Wesselink

Dear Mr Zuma

As an ANC voter and with the elections around the corner, there are a number of issues that are perplexing to me and to those of us who still think about political affairs and try to follow the facts.

For the record, most of our friends, colleagues and neighbours are so utterly disillusioned and/or bored by politics and the ongoing sagas within the ANC that they probably won’t vote at all.

1. 100% Zuma: The facts as you put them
If we assume that what you say is 100% true, we must accept you are innocent of the alleged corruption with which you have been charged. We must also accept that you have information that will reveal the “whole truth” about the arms deal and that this “whole truth” will reveal high levels of corruption by someone else or several others. Finally, we accept that you will only release this information if your criminal trial proceeds.

2. A question of integrity
If you are indeed a man of 100% integrity — and we would all love to believe this — then we can assume that you find the act of corruption (stealing public money, manipulating events or abusing political power) completely distasteful, a vice that has no place in our society and which must be eradicated if our ideals for a democratic and prosperous society are to survive.

How then can you be sitting quietly on explosive information about corruption in the arms deal? It is ironic, and would be funny if it were not tragic, that while you maintain this silence, your supporters make claims about a “rearguard action by colonial forces using state machinery to undo our revolutionary ideals”.

Our revolutionary ideals were never just about overthrowing an illegitimate regime. We were to build a (much) better society — an ideal towards which we have made great progress and which now looks to be under threat on several fronts.

We recognise the prophetic warning sounded by Andrew Feinstein all those years ago to the effect that we needed to deal openly with the arms-deal fiasco or live to regret it. We are certainly ruing the day our leaders ignored that good advice — and back then he was probably not predicting a crisis so deep that it would penetrate to the heart of some our most noble institutions.

3. Pragmatic thinking
Mr Zuma, I don’t think you are an evil man. I accept that you are one out of just a few (around the world) who have been called to account for corruption in the sale of arms (a notorious cesspool of dirty dealing). We know that there is more to the arms deal than Schabir Shaik’s alleged facilitation of a R500 000-a-year payment to you, and Yengeni’s Mercedes (and that even with them we have probably not yet heard the full story of their corruption). We know that the R500 000-a-year bribe is a just a small part of what really went down in the arms deal, and a drop in the ocean of what goes down in arms trading in the world. We know all this … we are not naive.

4. Disappointment
We are very disappointed that our government got caught up in this dirty trade at all and wonder whether it was fuelled by the personal greed of a few or the naivety of many. Or was it motivated by the genuine desire for upliftment through off-set investments by these arms companies — empty promises though they were?

We wish we had the opportunity to warn you about those charlatans. We curse them for their part in sullying our collective reputation as a nation and we look to our leaders to stand tall and atone for their mistakes so that we can again stand tall as South Africans.

We liked the fact that we occupied a moral higher ground. We loved looking down our noses at the Americans and particularly our pompous former colonial masters, the British. We rubbed our hands with sheer delight when Nelson Mandela — backed by more moral authority in government than any other country could muster — could tell Bush Snr not to presume to lecture us on issues of integrity (or any other issue for that matter). Alas, while we were once the pride and hope of our continent, now they laugh at us and the lack of moral fibre in our “new” leadership — deficiencies to which many of them have become resigned.

4. The bottom line
Mr Zuma, I don’t hear people baying for you blood. No one I speak to wants to see your head on a plate. All I hear is people asking for the simple truth. Who can want a president whose integrity is in question? Who can want a president who has information on crime and corruption but who shields it from us? Who can want a president who protects those who steal our money?

We want a president who respects us as much as we respect him or her. Give us the facts — all of them — and let us draw our own conclusions.

5. Our expectations
Firstly, a man has been tried, convicted and sentenced to prison for (successfully) bribing you. You must resign from public office. You must submit to trial and disprove the allegations if you harbour any public ambitions. You simply cannot seek public office while this cloud hangs over your head. Surely you see that this is much, much bigger than you or your career? Surely you see this as a crisis for the very basis of our democracy — one that will reverberate for generations to come? This is true, even if you and Shaik are victims of a political conspiracy.

Secondly, you have made attempts to block certain evidence from being used against you. While this may be an acceptable legal strategy for one who is criminally accused, it is not acceptable for a politician seeking public confidence and support. Let us see the evidence — let a court judge you not guilty on the basis of all the facts. Anything less looks like a cover-up and undermines your integrity.

Thirdly, you say you have information and will release this if your own future is threatened. This is not the behaviour of a man who deserves public trust. Protect your own hide, by all means; even using gangster tactics, but then resign from public and party office. Alternatively, open that can of worms. Show us that you will not be party to the protection of a criminal mafia and that you deserve our trust and respect.

6. In conclusion
Your supporters say your “victimisation is proof that we are becoming a banana republic”. To the rest of us, the fiasco around the arms deal; your seeking of public office notwithstanding the outcome of Shaik’s trial; and the massive fall-out that has followed are what we find most ominous for our democracy. If you are not willing to play open cards and champion the truth, then surely you see the threat to our democracy inherent in your chosen path (whether guilty or not)? You must know that the small personal sacrifice you might make in stepping down will pay dividends in future, delivering real value to the ANC and South Africa’s democratic future.

South Africa’s struggle has never been about one person. It was certainly not about Nelson Mandela, despite his enormous personal appeal. Personalising our future around the trials and tribulations of one Jacob Zuma is a tragedy and it is in your hands to avoid this calamity.

Would the real Jacob Zuma please stand up?

Sincerely
Carl Wesselink

Carl is an apprentice plumber, raising (public and private) funds to retro-fit energy saving interventions for low-cost housing. With the help of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism’s extended public works programme, a few corporate sponsorships and about 40 dedicated colleagues, he currently spends much of his time in Khayelitsha installing solar water heaters, insulated ceilings and energy saving lights in more than 2 000 low-cost houses. He used to be lawyer and ran a network of legal advice offices servicing farm workers from 1992 to 1997, before joining up with two Kenyan colleagues to develop and run large public education programmes on democratic governance in East Africa, where he lived with his wife and their three kids for seven years. He admires the many millions of South Africans who live their lives with little fanfare and loads of integrity. He thinks all of us (politicians specifically) should do more and whinge less.