Friday 15 April 2016

if Zuma were a bus driver

Imagine our beautiful country as a big, shiny bus, and our dear President Zuma, the driver. We, the citizens, are the passengers, hanging our hopes of arriving somewhere, ANYWHERE, in one piece, on the driving skills of this man. 

When taking over the seat in 2009, he aimed to take us to a place called "Freedom and Democracy", but instead we are taking the scenic route to Socialism, stopping at places such as "Corruption", "Economic Disaster", "Interracial Hatred", "Unemployment" and "Academic Failure".

True, he didn't get a perfect bus to start with, but he's crashed it so many times, it's hardly recognizable. Why would any transport company re-employ a bus driver who can't drive? Why wouldn't they replace him with someone who has the skills to handle this kind of vehicle? Why would they watch passively as he crashes time after time? Wouldn't any normal company start doubting the driver's skills after the first incident? 

Yes, if Zuma were a bus driver, he would've been fired shortly after taking the wheel. But luckily he's not steering a bus, so we should be fine. O, wait, he's steering a country. Maybe that's easier? 

The ANC in Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape decided, during the past week, to accept JZ's apology. After all, he did apparently show humility and courage. I'm not sure that these two qualities are enough to rule a country, though. I'm not sure it fixes the root of the problem - the fact that Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma has never been "president material". He had been charged with rape, and also various counts of racketeering, money laundering, corruption and fraud even before he became president. But the nation still chose to put its trust in him - hoping that this leopard would change its spots. The rest of the world must think we're a bunch of idiots. 

The irony is, if Zuma drives South Africa off a cliff, everyone in it suffers the same fate - the ones who mistrust him, as well as the ones who trust him - those who chose to keep him there when they had the chance to get rid of him. We are all in the same boat. We all go down when the economy crashes, when schools and buses are burnt down, when infrastructure is destroyed, when there's power shortages, when criminals roam our streets and when the little money we have, is thrown into the bottomless pit of corruption.

Dear ANC, somewhere in your gigantic camp you must have someone better suited for the job than Jacob Zuma. Just give us someone honest, who knows how to guide a nation - a leader, a man who cares about people (other than himself), someone with integrity, someone who can see the beauty of this place and try to preserve it. Give us someone who can start to fix what has been broken and someone who will stand up for what is right, even in the midst of threats and opposition.

Or if this is too much to ask, at least give us someone who can count.