I must be honest I’m a little late on the uptake of this story but I felt something needed to be said anyway.
I feel really torn on the matter, part of me says Jacob Zuma is a worthy candidate for presidency while at other times I feel the man is hindered by dubious moral values and judgments. At the end of the day, we’re faced with a choice of the best of a bad bunch. JZ is the George Bush of the Bush vs John Kerry election. Imagine if you will, John Kerry as our own Cyril Ramaphosa. What you have is someone who is in again, out again and somewhat undecided about their opinion. On the other hand, you have the Bush wanna-be who is clearly a troubled option.
There are however two issues to consider:
A: Thabo Mbeki set the bar so low as President how bad could Jacob Zuma be?
B: The man will have to work really hard to build up any credibility, I’d like him to be given a chance. (The problem with this is a chance could be considered a year long, 4-5 is a bit long to “try out” a position.)
I’d like to see Jacob Zuma be the country’s president, my reasoning is based on the above mentioned points. What I don’t like is the following:
Even if not convicted the man still seems to have a dubious background. How will this look internationally? If one looks at Bill Clinton’s presidency, it never really bounced back after the whole Monica situation. Sexual impropriety is hardly uncommon amongst politicians but who wants to deal with an alleged rapist? We need a president with an excellent image overseas. South Africa can ill afford any more international derision that people like our dear Manto have helped us garner. JZ is an arrogant man in anyones eyes and I wonder if this is the image we would be best at putting out. How many people can say they get fired only to take their bosses job when he moves on?
My biggest issue with JZ’s nearly apparent rise to presidency? The fact that the ANC woman’s league gave him their vote of approval. The man is clearly sexually… complicated. This Zapiro cartoon says it all really:
You know what is going to be the biggest problem is with SA politics come the next election? You’ll have a choice between an alleged rapist or a white liberal mayor. Best of a bad bunch indeed….
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