Polokwane: South Africa’s Gethsemane

Polokwane: South Africa’s Gethsemane

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By Mthulisi Mathuthu
(READ MTHULISI'S PREVIOUS ARTICLES)

THE news from Polokwane in South Africa where Jacob Zuma has pummeled President Mbeki in the race for the control of the continent’s oldest liberation party, the African National Congress, will have come as no surprise to all those who care about democracy.

It had been clear right from the time when Zuma was fired from the government where the wind was blowing. Things became even more obvious during the nominations, prior to the elections, that it was all a contest between rooted democracy against bigotry and dictatorship (political and capital) camouflaged as moral concerns.

South Africa, which spent three centuries fighting for democracy, spent the last few days feeling the excruciating pain of this noble notion they went through hell for.

Packed in the three hundred years were kidnappings, hackings, ‘necklacing’, ‘toyi-toying’ and political mayhem that lit the world yet the episode that stirred South Africa’s soul more than any other was this week’s drama. The country was dragged through the Garden of Gethsemane, and came face to face with democracy, with Mbeki’s side ranged against Zuma’s followers.

It was a painful period for the Mbeki camp as they learnt how bitter and inconvenient this sweet thing they love so much –democracy – really is. They watched the numbers of the man they hate growing larger by day towards the elections, yet it was also painful for Zuma’s supporters who watched aghast as the people who swear by democracy tried everything to break it so soon after its take off.

Perhaps the most bitter of them all is the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who despite having spent years fighting for democracy, found himself at the head of a call to halt its march.

What has been interesting but indicative of the level of frustration with Zuma’s detractors, has been pathetic attempts to rubbish him in the most twisted comparisons.

The newspapers, from Johannesburg to London, invited readers to voice their concerns as the ANC teetered on the brink of total mayhem. A sizeable number in the Times went a mile further; comparing Zuma to Zimbabwe’s veteran despot, Robert Mugabe.

"For long, Africa has been led by people who have not been acquitted of rape and slept with HIV positive women, but by murderers, thieves and those who rape their secretaries"

MTHULISI MATHUTHU

This is despite the fact that after all his incarceration in Robin Island, and taunts by Mbeki, Zuma has never showed any signs of bitterness and is not given to the racist diatribe which Mugabe and Mbeki seem to be preoccupied with. Zuma, who had a simple and basic education, exudes more confidence than Mbeki and Mugabe who have hidden their paranoia in race talk and cowardice in trying to project themselves as bookworms.

Tutu, who spent years chairing a reconciliation commission in South Africa which pardoned murderers but now wants a man who was acquitted of rape to be blocked, should learn one or two things from Zuma on forgiveness.

Not only has he embraced Mbeki but he has made friends with the white people, yet Tutu wanted him to be blocked from ascending to power despite the fact that in the Archbishop’s favourite book -- the Bible -- are stories of adulterers like David and Solomon, and killers like St Paul, whom God allowed to be people’s leaders.

Zuma’s type of forgiveness is richer because it is genuine and not inspired by the diktats of international capital and interests such as Tutu’s reconciliation of the 1990’s.

Moreover, Zuma -- an uneducated and reckless man who loves women and has countless children -- has never refused to admit his faults.

For long, Africa has been led by people who have not been acquitted of rape and slept with HIV positive women but by murderers, thieves and those who rape their secretaries and camouflage the outrage in marriage, and those who have married three or more times.

Yet these leaders have remained darlings of the international press and if they have been rebuked, it was after they caused untoward suffering to their people, or threatened western interests.

Mugabe is a case in point.

But how does it become possible that the international press and the supposed servants of democracy including the clerics will gang up to break democracy soon after it took off?

Top ANC luminary Marc Maharaj may have put it succinctly: “My perception is that the democratic debate in South Africa began to close down in the public space and the ANC is so crucial it is important that debate is opened up. That is happening now.

“It’s (Zuma victory) a messege from the ground. They (Mbeki people) are saying there is that disconnect. I think it’s a very positive thing for democracy that we are going through this process.”

Listen to Maharaj once more: “He (Zuma) has courted and has been courted by all sides. If he has made a promise it is only that he will conduct matters in a way that will be more consultative and embracing.”

The common explanation for the fuss about Zuma has been that he is leaning more towards the left because of the support of the Communist Party.

This is simplistic. If Morgan Tsvangirai who made his name in the streets fighting capital can be embraced, why shouldn’t be Zuma who is not at all communist but simply enjoys the support of the party?

Some say that even if he is not communist, he may be prevailed upon to pay back by turning the ship to take the direction of Zwelinzima Vavi because he is less schooled and therefore navigable.

That is equally daft because Zuma is a confident man who despite simple formal education rose up the ‘greasy pole’ within a party formed and dominated by Western educated intellectuals. He not only led the intelligence wing of the ANC but went on to quell the storm in KwaZulu by outsmarting Mangosuthu Buthelezi in a province that has produced more corpses than any other.

Now he has zoomed to the top and still nobody can point to a corpse written Zuma!

Perhaps the real fear about Zuma could be that he is a product of the people, and was packaged not by any international media house nor was he schooled in any Western university but was taught in the People Universities where grandmothers, widows of oppressive regimes, tuberculosis and HIV victims are professors.

He is the symbol of African resilience and confidence, which most of the African liberation leaders are not. Zuma mirrors South African life in many ways. They must look at Zuma and see themselves, people of simple background and thwarted talent who were for years denied proper education but have remained resilient and creative as shown by things like kwaito music.

As Mahaj has said, Zuma has ‘courted’ and has been courted by both sides: capital and the people. He will therefore try by all means to strike a balance. When a man is looked down upon, he tries hard to pull through and Zuma looks like he will do so.

Look at him talking to the ordinary person and to the top executives, you see the same person: a confident and easy going leader and not a mean spirited and haughty person. This is democracy from the ground, from the villages and the townships which South Africa spent centuries fighting for.

It is funny though how the whole world will want to laugh about the ‘shower’ incident and package it is evidence of folly but will channel more grisly matters such as murder towards the reconciliation route so that those who killed can continue in government and those who had sex with HIV positive women are ostracised.

As they languish in the Garden of Gethsemane, the South Africans should not let the cup pass but they should drink it. If they don’t they will meet the gas beyond Gethsemane which Rudyard Kipling spoke about in his great poem.

Mthulisi Mathuthu is The New Zimbabwe news editor and can be contacted on e-mail: mthulisi@newzimbabwe.com
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