ZUMACATE ME PLEASE!
It was with great pride that I voted in the 2009 elections and I will let you know that I voted DA, but there is something that confuses and disturbs me… I was under the illusion that a president should at least be educated to the level of the average voter. Even if this is not the case in South Africa, I find it ridiculous that our current president doesn’t have a matric education.
One might say that it is easy for a “white” male with all the privileges of a tertiary education to criticize… However, I am not going to apologize for being white and let me share just what my privileged education has taught me:
If we take into account the “inequalities of the past” the Apartheid government didn’t allocate adequate funds to rural schools. Everyone knows this, and it is obvious that South Africa is suffering from a lack of skills, today, caused by the Apartheid years of yesterday. However, a basic matric was available to those that really wanted it and there were many people who conquered the inequalities of Apartheid and went on to become doctors, lawyers, accountants and… yes, even politicians. The question that burns in my mind is, “Why didn’t Jacob Zuma get a high school education?”
There could be may reasons for this, so let’s forget about it for the moment and focus on the future of our country. It seems obvious to me that education is the most important challenge facing South Africa today and I think the fact that the majority of South Africans even voted in a man without a matric is an excellent indicator of just how bad the situation is. So one would hope that education features highly on the government’s budget. The sad fact is that it doesn’t.
Here is where South Africa faces its ultimate double-edged sword – only a man without a basic education would approve an education budget like this:
“R24.8 billion for health AND education”
VS
“R787 billion to create jobs through infrastructure development for municipalities, provinces and parastatals”
Forgive me for being “educated” but surely you can create all the jobs in the world but without educated people to fill them what’s the point? Here is where Jacob Zuma shows his true intelligence…
Let me explain what is really happening here: R787 billion equals government tenders and contracts awarded to ANC fat cats who will mismanage and pocket as much of this budget as they can while education has to share a piddling R24.8 billion WITH health services.
A suggestion President Zuma, perhaps you should go back to school because some people actually read your budgets and just because you put “creates jobs” in a sentence doesn’t mean that a R787 billion budget, that should be equally shared with education, will go unnoticed.
Am I the only person that finds this completely shameful? Please can someone Zumacate me? OR if you would like to vote me in for president please contact me. I am, by the effects of Apartheid or not, more educated than the current incumbent and it seems that these days anyone can run a country, so why can’t I?
Hey Steve, you get my vote dude! I would take it one further and suggest that there should be a special SETA for politicians. If you have to have a specific qualification to train government officials, then surely government officials should be required to have a specific qualifications. I don’t think that the ability to drive a Ferrari counts (or crash a Ferrari as it may be). So its Steve for President! Viva Steve!! Aluta Continua!!!
Apocolypz - February 27, 2010 at 3:42 pm |
Thanks man, will you be my campaign manager?
renousays - March 12, 2010 at 7:14 am |
Any day man! Let sanity prevail….
Apocolypz - March 12, 2010 at 7:17 am |
Couple of musings…
I, like many, was not happy with the thought of Zuma becoming president. But, given the inevitability of it, and my own discomfort at the vehement bias I saw in myself against the man, I decided to read Jeremy Gordin’s biography of him. While I am no Zuma apologist, I can’t deny that it rather shockingly laid bare the bias that I suspected was there. The man has his flaws, and they are many, but sadly so do we, and sealing our minds in concrete conviction that our view is the only correct is one of the biggest. Reading that book made me look in the mirror, and I now find myself trying to encourage people to help the man do the best job possible with those remarkable skills he does possess, rather than undermining his efforts and hating on him for the skills he lacks. Each unto their own, but such is mine.
Regarding his high school education, I can tell you (though only after having read his biography) that the reason he never finished high school was because he was inspired to join the freedom struggle at age 15. I found that fact in itself to be impressive, and indicative of the passion that has clearly kept his life on this course for decades since. A somewhat less romantic take might be that, for most in those days, school was a farce anyway, and what good is an education in a world where the opportunities it is supposed to unleash are not available, educated or no.
Not to go on and on, but if I can leave with a thought of my own… I agree that education is a necessity for those in positions of influence, and especially for those in positions of authority. I think that the reality of governance is that Zuma is not the one calling the budgetary shots. Yes he obviously has influence, but this is a process involving hundreds of people, most of whom I (dangerously) assume (and desperately hope) are professionally educated. Responsibility does lie at his feet, but I don’t know that a better education would necessarily change the situation. That being said, Zuma is actually a very well-educated man, but largely by his own hand. This was another side of him that I did not know about, and which softened my stance toward him. It is one thing to “get” an education, by which I mean to enter into an institution and be taught. It is quite another thing to seek out an education as a personal endeavour to improve and empower oneself in the face of one’s own obvious ignorance. To be fair, it wasn’t all at his own hands – Robin Island became a place of devoted learning for many in the ANC, and with the bog boys there as well it was a literal school of politics and enlightenment. I’m being generous, but there are many who spent years there that would agree with the statement, and I suspect Zuma (10 years) is one of them.
You’d still get my vote though Steve… in exchange for VP position of course. This is Africa after all
synstistute - May 13, 2010 at 6:44 am |
Hey thanks for your post. I will definitely read that biography and try and understand more about the man. I really think your positive view is admirable, it is a view that all South Africans should try and take, however we cannot put our heads in the sand either. There are some very disturbing facts and rumours that surround Jacob Zuma and I personally don’t feel like he represents me or this country adequately. Unfortunately revolutionaries do not always make the best politicians post struggle and I think he is a prime example of this.
renousays - May 14, 2010 at 2:30 pm |
I’d be really interested to hear your response to the book. It’s sadly quite scant on his personal biography, focusing very much on his public life. Apparently there is another book in the works which will be more personal…
I agree with you about the inadequacy of his representation Steve. He has an extremely well developed emotional intelligence, which I’m convinced is the source of his political success, much like it was for Mandela, was not for Mbeki, and is for Obama. But he sadly seems to be lacking in… independence? Outright conviction? I don’t know exactly what to call it, but it’s that missing streak of moral certitude that makes great leaders step forward and take the bull by the fucking horns because they believe in their own justifications and the necessity of their potent action. Zuma has always been a team player… I don’t think because he weak, but rather because his ideological views were formulated in that environment of Cause first, Self second. I suppose this is good because it means we won’t have a Mugabe on our hands… but it also means won’t have a Mandela.
Anyway, my long-winded point in initially responding was not to assess the man one way or the other – time alone can do that – but just to flesh him out a little bit. He is sadly little more than a sound-bite caricature to most South Africans, as most leaders in most countries are I guess.
If you’re into biographies of leaders then you should hit up Obama’s “Dreams of My Father” (he narrates the audiobook himself actually, for which he won a fucking Grammy!) (deservedly!). He is the de facto world leader, or at least more so than anyone else, and (imho) his years steering the US and the rest of us are going to have significant implications for the entire world, including South Africa. So if you’re bleak about Zuma maybe you want a uplift your hope with some Obama. Because that dude is the real fucking deal.
I’ll shut the fuck up now.
synstistute - May 14, 2010 at 6:05 pm