Zuma and Zille the pride of a nation

On the same day as our President Jacob Zuma was delivering his State of the Nation address I was monitoring the near implosion of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s British cabinet. A second cabinet minister Hazel Blears joining Jacqui Smith in resigning her post; two in as many days. The brouhaha over the members of parliament expenses debacle being the last straw for many party faithful who have witnessed a seemingly endless list of blunders committed by Labour.

Of course the European and local elections are upon them and should Labour, who are currently sporting the tag of lowest opinion poll in their recorded history, fare anywhere remotely as badly as opinion polls suggest, then Brown will be forced to call a general election. Having recently suffered Labour’s first defeat in the House of Commons in a number of years, Labour’s position is already bordering on the untenable.

Today the British press is filled with stories of an anonymous email calling for Brown’s head as well as predictions of doom and gloom for the prime minister.

Under Labour the British economy has entered one of the deepest recessions to be found anywhere in the world while daily we witness their government lurch from one sleaze and corruption scandal to the next. Staggering ineptitude that has occasioned the boom and horribly bust that is Great Britain today.

Two things emerge:

Firstly there is a misconception in Africa — sold to it primarily by those who see Western governments like Great Britain and the United States as the bastions of civilisation and democracy — that accountability is absent on this continent while it reigns supreme among these so-called powers.

As Britain clearly demonstrates there is almost no accountability whatsoever as political parties attempt damage control on the MP’s expenses scandal. While many of their members were morally wrong, a number of senior parliamentarians were outright crooks claiming for mortgages that didn’t exist or had been paid off previously.

If there was to be a cull of those who were morally and criminally wrong you would empty out the greater part of their parliament. Instead we have Brown clinging to power instead of calling a general election despite the fact that the public has no confidence whatsoever in their politicians or parliament.

Corruption supposedly the scourge of Africa and its Banana Republics is just as prominent in Europe, the United States and the rest of the world.

A second misconception is that where South African and African politicians stick like glue, those overseas will fall on their swords at the slightest hint of dishonour. That is the biggest pile of doggy-do in the history of dog-shitting competitions.

Going back to the MP’s expenses scandal, those who have been found committing criminal acts are trying to hide behind garbage like calling their acts “mistakes”. Can you imagine appointing a chancellor who can’t even keep track of his expenses? Given the choice I’m sure the British would rather have a dishonest genius than a moron at the head of their finances.

The list is endless and the point is that nobody is falling on their swords.

Those like ministers Blears and Smith aren’t leaving because they have honourable intentions, actually quite the contrary; they are set to be shuffled off the Titanic when Brown reworks his cabinet shortly. So instead of allowing their party leader — in huge dwang as it is — to do so in an orderly fashion they go out in a blaze of publicity to plunge the dagger in even deeper.

That is Great Britain, don’t even begin to get me started on the U.S.A. with their sub-prime, trillion-dollar deficit and ongoing illegal wars.

As South Africans and Africans we tend to view those abroad as shining examples of where we need to be.

Heaven help us if we get there.

Zuma has delivered his first State of the Nation address.

The speech is designed to reflect on our current situation and outline the government’s plans for the year/s ahead.

It is not intended to cover policies in detail but rather sketch their thinking on where the priorities lie and how they believe these areas should be tackled. The devil in the detail with regard thereto will be coming from the various ministries and committees tasked to deal therewith.

In essence the president acknowledged the severity of the global recession which has now touched us. In accordance therewith we are being told to temper expectation with reality. That said government, labour and business are working to implement measures that will deal with the impact on South Africa.

On some of those items the government will fall flat on its face while in others it will exceed expectation. Many organisations and opposition parties have expressed their views which you should read through along with Zuma’s address.

This time I want South Africans to judge our leaders on the basis that they have not done too badly in weathering the financial storms of the planet and — more importantly — without using these fictitious overseas role models that they have been conditioned to believe are unconditionally worthy of our respect. If anything most are examples of what we need to avoid.

In the case of President Zuma — as his address clearly indicates — he is bending over backwards in trying to bring all South Africans together and for that alone he deserves our support.

In the case of Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, we have a fearless opposition leader who will take on the powers that be whenever required. I read her response to an interview with the Mail & Guardian where she admitted to misreading the mood of the country when she went on the attack straight after the elections. Wisdom allied to courage in a dynamite package can never be a bad thing.

On the day after the president’s address and a few days after the premier’s I could not be more optimistic or proud of our country.