‘Zuma Must Fall!’ Cry, South Africa -The iPINIONS Journal

People in Pretoria, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg took to the streets, insisting that corruption has worsened in South Africa since Zuma came to power in 2009…

President Zuma caused nationwide anger last week when he dismissed Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene and replaced him with Desmond van Rooyen. The move resulted in an immediate dip of the country’s rand currency against the US dollar.

(International Business Times, December 16, 2015)

Frankly, I warned South Africans against electing Zuma in the first place – as such commentaries as “Mbeki vs. Zuma for ANC Leadership,” December 17, 2007, and “South African President Mbeki Forced to Resign… Hail Zuma?!” September 22, 2008, attest. And I’ve been bemoaning his leadership ever since – as such commentaries as “South Africa Betraying Its Values,” May 13, 2011, and “Zuma Doing to South Africa What Mugabe Did to Zimbabwe,” December 12, 2015, attest.

Therefore, these protests are belated at best. What’s more, the outrage that gave rise to them seems more self-interested than public-spirited.

After all, the tipping point for thousands of middle-class South Africans came last week, after a fickle cabinet shuffle caused a dip in the value of their stock portfolios and bank accounts. By contrast, the tipping point for millions of poor South Africans came years ago, after the ruling ANC showed no greater interest in providing basic services than the ousted Apartheid regime did.

In fact:

When the African National Congress stormed to power in South Africa’s first free multi-racial election in 1994, the poorest citizens of the country had high hopes that freedom would soon be followed by prosperity.

A decade later, that has proved to be a forlorn hope. Instead, the poor have got poorer while a super-rich elite of politically connected businessmen and women has accumulated vast wealth.

(UK Telegraph, February 1, 2004)

More to the point:

The ANC under [Zuma’s] aegis has sought to undermine the independence of the courts, the police, the prosecuting authorities and the press. It has conflated the interests of party and state, dishing out contracts for public works as rewards for loyalty — hence the bitter jest that the government is in hock to ‘tenderpreneurs’. This has reduced economic competitiveness and bolstered a fabulously rich black elite. As a result, too little wealth trickles down.

(Economist, October 12, 2012)

Nonetheless, I support the middle-class folks who protested today. But this pales in comparison with my support for the poor folks who have been protesting for years. Unsurprisingly, the former enjoyed great media fanfare; the latter has never had more than scant media coverage.