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Dear president Jacob Zuma
I read your statement which you delivered at the ANC Youth League consultive conference and it is with absolute dismay that I have to agree. The ANC is in trouble and so is South Africa.
I also agree with another point that you raised during your speech. Large parts of the media and opposition constantly focus on all the negative aspects of our society while turning a blind eye to the positive aspects, they complain as if they are paid to do so. They believe this is their role in society, sadly they are deceived. We have a duty as South Africans, regardless of political allegiance, to advance the interests of our country, wining from dusk till dawn will not achieve this.
I have been searching for a political home for the past few months and have realised that the ANC is the only party that can move South Africa towards a non-racial, non-sexist, and equal society for all. The DA and EFF are mere noise in the background. It is only through the ANC that Nelson Mandela’s dream of an Africa, and in turn South Africa, which is at peace with itself can be realised.
However your current course of action is moving South Africa away from Madiba’s dream. South Africa is currently facing Constitutional crises and you are at the centre of the chaos. I don’t want this to be a letter about the Nkandla upgrades or the public protector’s report; there are more than enough writers whom will grind that particular axe. Instead I would like this to be letter about leadership, something which our rainbow nation is in desperate need of.
Of late you have displayed very little leadership and a lot of inaction. When parliament descended into chaos you ran to the Union Buildings and sent deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa to lambast the opposition instead of returning and answering questions as you are Constitutionally obliged to do. This is not some law making institution in Malawi, this is the parliament of South Africa and I would urge you to treat it with the respect that it so rightfully deserves.
If you wronged South Africans in any manner during the Nkandla project (I would not know without a shadow of a doubt and neither would Thuli Madonsela but you would) then I am asking you, in fact begging you to be a leader and tell the truth. South Africans has the capacity to forgive, the black majority of our country has had to forgive the terrible inhumanities that my ancestors forced onto them, they will forgive you too. Compared to what my ancestors did two hundred and fifty six million rand is but a drop in a vast ocean, however forgiveness can only be given once it is asked for. Nkandla will remain on the table for as long as you allow it to be there and during this time opportunists such as the DA and EFF will suck every last drop of sensation out of it.
The ANC will not be removed from government during the next decade trough the ballot box, of that I am certain. However we also know that there is more than one way to remove a government, to quote your predecessor Thabo Mbeki, “when the poor rise up they will rise against all”. If the masses rise they will destroy you, the ANC, our Constitutional democracy, and our country in the process. Let it not be your inaction that leads to this dreadful scenario.
I am a proud South African citizen and I want to see our country grow and prosper, to achieve this we need strong leadership. I urge you to become that leader to not only the eleven million citizens that elected you to serve them or the over thirty million eligible voters but all fifty four million citizens of our country.
You are our Commander in Chief and its about time you start acting like it.
Your fellow South African
David van Tonder
