The Financial Mail has this article speaking about what a rough road we have ahead if Zuma becomes South Africa’s next president. Unfortunately it now seems that the only way we can avoid such a tragedy is through charges being pushed through against him.
The article tries to figure out what Zuma would be like as president. This is pretty tricky because he is distressingly quiet about his policies and ideas. That said, the author is able to infer some of Mr Zuma’s social ideas:
- “He has intimated that the press should project a positive image of the country, rather than criticise.”
- “His own behaviour and support for Zulu virginity testing poses significant concerns about his attitude to the rights of women.”
- “Other comments betray his homophobia.”
The article goes on to discuss possible economic and cabinet changes that the author feels Zuma is likely to make. For instance, his close alliance with the left is likely to have a big (and in my opinion bad) impact on his fiscal decisions. Labor laws will probably become tighter instead of being loosened. Taxes are likely to go up and tax breaks could become “a distant memory”.
Although I don’t necessarily think everything in the article is justified Zuma does scare my pretty badly. He doesn’t give us enough information to judge his policies and what he does say is all crazy.
Desmond Tutu is someone who I find I almost always agree with. The man does not buy into the loyalty-above-all-else culture of the ANC. He has the guts to take “them” on about a lot of things, but is still perceived as a constructive force. I wonder what his economic policies are – perhaps he could lead a successful opposition.
