Beneficiaries of patronage? For Zuma’s apologists, ignorance is no excuse.

People in glass houses should really not throw stones. South Africans know that corruption has become widespread in the public sector – even endemic in areas like the allocation of tenders as Chief Procurement Officer Kenneth Brown is uncovering. South Africans also know through public disclosures of Mcebisi Jonas and Vytjie Mentor that President Jacob Zuma allowed the rapacious Gupta family to profit from key appointments to his cabinet. On top of which, the highest court in the land confirmed in a scathing judgement that Zuma broke his oath of office. Those courageous patriots calling for his head are doing so because the evidence of his misrule is incontestable. Retaining him only exaggerates the problem. Zuma did not apologise for breaking his oath of office, claiming his legal advisors were at fault. He has not apologised for letting the Guptas appoint his cabinet members. He has also not apologised for destruction wrought by Nenegate, saying when firing Nene he acted in good faith when we know from Jonas that’s far from the truth. A basic requirement of leadership is the ability to accept responsibility. Zuma is incapable of doing so. Loyalists like the ANCYL leader whose blustering is quoted in the article below, rely on a flimsy argument that Zuma apologised so should be forgiven. He hasn’t and he shouldn’t. Ignorance is no excuse for those defending the deeply compromised President, By doing so they leave us to conclude that they too are in on the game – beneficiaries of Zuma’s network of patronage. At Biznews, we salute Jonas, Mentor, Nhlanhla Nene, Trevor Manuel, Ahmed Kathrada, the SACC, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Barbara Hogan and a host of others who have raised their heads above the parapet. For us that are national heroes. And a reminder that all it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to stand aside and do nothing. – Alec Hogg

Mpho Raborife, News24

Johannesburg – The youth league, women’s league and veterans league within the ANC in Gauteng have criticised its stalwarts as well as some religious leaders who have joined the call for President Jacob Zuma to step down.

“It disappoints us when stalwarts of the organisation abandon their tools of analysis and play into the gallery, allowing themselves to be used to destroy the organisation from within,” ANC youth league chairperson Matoma Chiloane told reporters in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Jacob_Zuma_ANC_2
South Africa’s President and leader of the ruling ANC party Jacob Zuma (C) greets his supporters as he arrives for the launch of his party’s election manifesto at Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit January 11, 2014. REUTERS/Ihsaan Haffejee

All three leagues had held their respective provincial executive committee meetings and had all come to the conclusion that they would support Zuma and call for him to remain president of both the country and the ruling party until he completed his term in 2017.

They spoke out against those who were joining the increasing calls that their leader step down.

Chiloane said it was disappointing to see the very people that all three leagues had looked up to and had spoken so highly of, disrespecting the ruling party’s organisational processes.

Read also: Bloomberg View: SA will not prosper while Jacob Zuma remains President

Self-correction and self-criticism were core to how the ANC functioned and was embedded in their internal processes, Chiloane said. He lambasted them for the platform in which they chose to criticise the party’s dilemma.

“When stalwarts opt to sprint to media and play into opposition hands instead of raising their dissatisfaction within the organisation, and guiding our action, how are we to continue respecting them?” he asked.

He accused them of entering muddy water and throwing mud at the ruling party.

One of the said stalwarts was former President Thabo Mbeki who responded to the Constitutional Court’s judgment which found that President Zuma had acted inconsistently with the Constitution by not acting on Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s recommendations that he pay back a portion of the money spent on non-security upgrades at his Nkandla homestead.

Read also: ‘Supporters losing faith’ – ANC admits must deal with discontent over Zuma

In a letter published on Facebook on Monday, Mbeki did not mention Zuma by name or express an opinion on how Zuma should respond to the judgment, but praised Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and his fellow justices on their ruling.

He said the court’s judgment had evoked much political discussion and activity in the country. These included the calls for Zuma to be removed from office.

Chiloane on Wednesday said if Mbeki wanted to give advice to the ruling party, he should have done so through the right channels.

“We can’t entertain him on that level, if he did [want to assist] he would have come to us.

“We are expecting better conduct [from him] but we are not receiving such,” Chiloane said.

Read also: SA Churches: ANC Top 4 ‘wrestling’ over Zuma resignation calls

The leagues fully supported the court’s findings and appreciated the closure it brought to a matter that had dragged on for far too long, which had led to Parliament becoming a circus, Chiloane said.

There have been increasing calls for the ANC to remove Zuma since the court ruled on March 31.

Among them was the South African Council of Churches which asked the ANC last Friday to convince Zuma to resign.

Chiloane said the leagues were shocked to hear religious leaders had opted not to accept Zuma’s apology.

“Since when does the Bible teach non-forgiveness?” Chiloane said.

“Shockingly, the individuals who today teach non-forgiveness are the very people who were Apartheid activists and subsequently forgave racist and blood thirsty Apartheid activists, yet today they can’t forgive a man whose fundamental error is non-payment.”

Chiloane urged the religious leaders not to lead people astray and remain consistent. – News24

Source: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/anc-gauteng-leagues-take-swipe-at-stalwarts-religious-leaders-20160413

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