When someone as inspirational as Obama comes on to the politcal scene it’s hard not to want your own politicians to be someone as inspirational. Obama came into the White House demanding change and to some extent he has managed to create that change. With our elections roughly a month behind us I wanted to take a look into the mindset of South Africa to see whether Zuma could become our Obama even though he’ll be bringing change after his election rather than promising it before. I’d like to point out that I’m a reluctant DA voter. I say reluctant since I’m not the worlds biggest Helen Zille fan but I did vote for them in the election to be a strong opposition. I’m certainly not pro Zuma but I do believe he’s on the brink of being the best President we’ve had in recent memory and here’s why:
As far as I can gauge the mood of the country is positive for the first time in ten years. Zuma is taking a tough line (at least verbally) on crime, has solved the Sbu Ndebele car indcident so efficiently that it made Sbu look like a hero and most importantly his government has expressed embarrasment for the poor behaviour of the ANC Youth League. While we’re hardly speaking sweeping changes this is definitely a step in the right direction. I get the impression that the country has already forgiven Zuma for his previous mistakes (he’s only human and we all make mistakes) and we’re willing as a nation to follow Zuma into a greater future. With global economies as well as our own economy tanking now is the time for a decisive leader to take charge and I’m beginning to wonder if good old JZ is not the man for the job. Creating a National Planning Comittee and getting Pravan Gordhan into the finance ministry shows me that at least our economy is in the right direction.
On the other hand the opposition DA has had a swing in sentiment after the elections when Helen Zille felt that it was acceptable to continue the pointless fight with Zuma despite him already being the president. The ANC have extended an olive branch and it seems a shame that the DA continues to be defiant when they could get involved to make some real (needed) change in this country.
I’m proud to say that I think South Africa is going to be just fine under the JZ presidency and I’m very proud of South African’s for putting their differences aside and being positive about the future. Maybe JZ isn’t going to be our Obama but the fact of the matter is that our country is changing and for the better. If there is any country in the world worth saving it is clearly South Africa and while our problems are numerous, I think it’s all going to work out alright.
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Hear hear. We actually agree, how novel.
I believe its time for the President for the people, both Obama and JZ meet that criteria well.
I agree with your sentiments but I am still of the opinion that it is still to early to tell. We must be positive about our country.. it should not even be mentioned.
The fact is that we are actually seeing government being proactive and talking and not following the silent diplomacy route..
I was at a Helping Hands fundraiser and Cyril Ramaphosa was a panelist. He was also confident Zuma could well turn out to be one of our best presidents ever: http://ff.im/2T4tI