There is a rumour going in the political corridors this week which predicts nothing good for the white minority, or the coloured minority, or the Indian minority…or anybody else for that matter.
Political commentators first picked up on it when Jacob Zuma made a very strong statement about the expropriation of land to speed up the redistribution of land at the celebration of the ANC’s 103rd birthday in Cape Town two weeks ago– a statement which made one wonder whether he accidently picked up one of Malema’s speeches on his way out of the office.
The Citizen then picked up on the story yesterday and, this very morning, Chris Gibbons wrote a splendid political commentary on the whole issue of, wait for it: A coalition between the ANC and the EFF!
This would be nothing new to the political landscape here in South Africa, or for that matter anywhere else in the world. David Cameron’s Conservative Party is governing Britain only because it is in an uneasy coalition with the opponent, Nic Clegg’s Liberal Democrats.
Way back in February 1933 South Africa was in a desperate situation with a raging Depression, racial friction, tension between English speaking and Afrikaans speaking whites.
General Hertzog’s very conservative National Party Government merged with that of the rather liberal opposition South African Party of genl Jan Smuts to form the United Party, with the agreement that Hertzog would remain as Prime Minister, while Smuts becomes Deputy Prime Minister.
10 Ministers in Cabinet, 5 from each of the parties. This prepared the way for the rising of Afrikaner Nationalism and the National Party of Malan, Verwoerd and Vorster – by implication: Apartheid.
Last year we witnessed the “Collective for Democracy” where the moderate conservative Freedom Front + joined hands with the violently Marxist PAC, (amongst others)…I still struggle to understand how they justified that one! Politics make for strange bed fellows indeed.
We are back where Hertzog and Smuts had us in 1933 again. Zuma cannot serve another term in office as president, unless he changes the constitution – which he cannot do without a two thirds majority.
The opposition DA is desperate to get him out of the chair, because the moment he walks out of his office as “Former” president, he faces more than 700 charges of fraud and corruption. So his only security against that is…to remain in office for as long as possible.
On top of that: It is an open secret that the provincial leadership in at least 7 of the 9 provinces are pushing to keep Zuma for another term as president of the ANC. It is unthinkable that he could be president of the ANC and not president of the country.
So, he has to hang in there for as long as possible and now he needs help, which the DA is not going to offer. Only one other option remains: Julius Malema. The EFF are after all ex-ANC, it is just a question of sweetening the pot enough to lure them back home.
Zuma already made his move by moving closer to Malema-policy with his “land expropriation” statement. The next step, as it is rumoured, is to offer Malema something he cannot refuse: the Deputy Presidency and a number of influential positions for his henchmen in a cabinet reshuffle.
This means that the newly formed coalition will have sufficient votes to change the constitution and allow Zuma to remain for another term as president. Immediately following his retirement after the third term, Malema will succeed and “pardon” his predecessor for any “crimes” committed.
And there we have it: Malema president, Zuma off the hook and living in luxurious opulence…and the rest of us in the dump.
Where does that leave us? We need to start pushing much harder for self-determination away from the South African state of unity. Front National is at the moment the only party striving towards that.
The DA is trying to create their own little rainbow nation by making whites blacker and blacks whiter and blaming everything else on racism. The Freedom Front+ is only concerned about minorities without realising that they themselves are the smallest minority – in parliament, in society, in opinion…
I usually don’t pay much attention to rumours, but this wind is blowing rather strongly…and it carries with it a whiff of uneasiness.
I always reckoned the man who coined the phrase: “The sh*t just hit the fan” must have had a very nasty experience at some stage in his life…I believe we might come to understand something of that even better in the near future.
Department Information (Daniel)
Front Nasionaal Suid Afrika
South Africa Today – South Africa News
