This is not only our opinion. It’s shared by many thought-leaders worldwide. We need only use one example: The Economist – an internationally recognized magazine founded in 1843 with an average weekly circulation of 1.5 million readers.
The Economist agrees that South Africa president Jacob Zuma’s first term has not been one to boast of. “His presidency has been nagged by charges of corruption. In February the public protector, a watchdog, said Mr Zuma had unduly benefited from a $25m facelift for his private home, paid for by taxpayers.” (This weekend Zuma played the ‘rape card’ by saying he needed added security at his homestead because one of his wives was raped – Ed)
In the mean time violent protests over shoddy public services and corrupt local officials occur all of the time.
And as The Economist rightly points out, the South African economy has stalled. (This weekend Zuma – in a speech – sayd SA needs to help to make the ‘enemy’ grow. We can only hope he meant ‘economy’). Unemployment has risen to 25% of the workforce, or 36% including those who have given up looking for work. A growing sense of disquiet about South Africa’s present—and anxiety about its future under a fractious ruling party—makes it hard for many South Africans to accept that anything has changed for the better since 1994.
To quote The economist. “The facts suggest otherwise. South Africa is a much more stable and peaceable country than might have seemed possible during the turmoil of the early 1990s. Rates of violent crime are high by the standards of other countries, but they have nevertheless fallen. Politics is dominated by the ANC but the Democratic Alliance (DA), the main opposition party, has steadily increased its support since 1999 and now governs the Western Cape, the second-richest of South Africa’s nine provinces. Parliament is a lapdog to the ANC, in part because of a system that allocates seats to political parties based on their share of the vote. But other bodies created by the constitution to keep the executive in check enjoy public support. The ANC has been on the wrong end of many court judgments, to its chagrin. But it accepts them. Despite early fears, the ANC has not proved reckless with the levers of macroeconomic policy. Prudent management of public finances in the early years of its rule created the room to run large budget deficits when the global recession struck. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the envy of other African countries for its ability to harvest tax. The Reserve Bank has stuck to an inflation target. It has ANC members at its head, but has nevertheless acted independently of government. It recently raised interest rates, even though elections were on the horizon.”
Now go and vote for change.
