Editorial: Zuma must take responsibility

HAD you landed at the NMMU Missionvale campus from a different planet yesterday, you might have been intrigued by the statesman who stood in front of a crowd of people, speaking about the path of reconciliation which South Africa so desperately needed to go through. Calm, measured and confident, President Jacob Zuma was at times even jovial, seemingly oblivious to the barrage of angry voices in different parts of the country stating that #ZumaMustFall. In fact, he appeared remarkably different to the man whose dubious and thoughtless decisions in the last week gave South Africa three finance ministers, landing the Treasury in a tailspin and plunging our economy – and investor confidence – into a crisis that it will take some time to recover from. Yesterday, Zuma appeared removed from this immediate reality. He stuck to the business of the day. He preached reconciliation, a complex process the authenticity of which could only be achieved when structural inequalities were effectively dealt with, he said.

He spoke with conviction about a culture of violence which, he said, was part of the painful apartheid legacy. We agree with Zuma on the need for true reconciliation. We also accept that it is the responsibility of every citizen to step out of our proverbial comfort zones to tackle the divides that prevent us from reaching social cohesion. However, we believe that personally and on behalf of the government, Zuma should shoulder much of the responsibility for the anger felt by many South Africans – black and white, rich and poor – about the poor state of governance and lack of accountability in his administration. While it cannot be disputed that apartheid was an evil system that continues to haunt us, we believe that taking responsibility for the state of our nation would give Zuma’s reconciliation message some credibility.