Birds of a Feather....

It just keeps getting stranger.... I refer to the latest move by Jacob Zuma.

In an act of either
a) complete insensitivity and stupidity
or
b) in-your-face defiance and lack of respect for social values
but definitely
c) setting a scary tone for the values of the future leadership of our country,

our new leader of the ANC, and therefore the de-facto leader of the country, has agreed that his first major public engagement will be as keynote speaker at a function in honour of boxer Mike Tyson..... (you know the one I mean, the guy who did time for rape, beat his wife, bit off an opponents ear?)
hang on a bit, I am almost speechless! ....
But we all know that never lasts long, hehe!

On the other hand, maybe it is just a case of birds of a feather flocking together... there are a few worrying similarities...Like an apparent delight in violence....

This man , our illustrious new leader, overwealmingly elected by rampaging crowds, has a "theme song" which he sings to the crowd at all his political rallies, called Lethu Mshini Wami (Bring me my machine gun), a song used during the war against Apartheid. The relevance of such a song in a free democracy is questionable, one can only assume he is trying to remind his comrades of the part he played in 'the struggle', and arouse in them a willingness to do anything in support of him and his political agenda.

When he has been in court on various charges, his supporters have blatantly stated that the courts will run with blood if he is convicted, and this brings us to his rape charge. Zuma supporters rallied outside the courthouse, arousing criticism by anti-rape groups for regular attacks on the integrity and moral standing of Zuma's accuser, insults yelled at a close friend of the accuser, and even stones thrown at a woman that members of the crowd mistook for the accuser.

After Zuma was found not guilty, because the prosecution was unable to prove that the sex was not consentual, she has been forced to flee the country because she was threatened with death by his supporters. The trial also generated political controversy when Zuma, who headed the National AIDS Council, admitted that he had not used a condom when having sex with the woman who now accuses him of rape, despite knowing that she was HIV-positive. He stated in court that he took a shower to try to reduce his risk of infection!!

All we can do is wait and see how the corruption case against him pans out, because unless he is convicted, it is likely that in 18 months time, this will be our new State President. Is this truly the best person our nation can come up with as our next leader? How sad! If the lack of political wisdom and common morality we have seen so far is any indication of what is to come, we are in for a bumpy ride!

And in the mean time, I am sure he and Mike Tyson will have a great evening together, they certainly have a lot in common to talk about.