SA won't be a 2nd Tunisia - Zuma

2011-02-17 09:18

Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma says he is confident that South Africa will never become "a second Tunisia".

Zuma gave this assurance in an interview with Beeld on Wednesday, amid violent protests about poor service delivery and unemployment in Mpumalanga and North West.

He fervently rejected predictions that South Africa was heading towards a situation similar to that in Tunisia.

"I can tell you there will never be a Tunisia in South Africa. We have a constitutional democracy here. No-one is being repressed; everyone has the right to say what he wants and to vote."

"It is impossible. I use the word again: It is impossible."

One person has already died in Ermelo and 42 were arrested in Boipelo in North West after they threw stones at the police and set a police station on fire.

Dissatisfied poor

Zuma's reaction followed a prediction by Moeletsi Mbeki, political analyst and brother of former president Thabo Mbeki, that South Africa's dissatisfied poor people would turn on the government in 2020.

It would happen when the ANC government could no longer afford the extended welfare system.

Tunisia's head of state resigned last month amid far-reaching and violent public protests, and the government was also disbanded.

Mbeki said the ANC government was using welfare grants to lure poor black people to voting stations and the state would not be able to afford it on the long run.

"The ANC has inherited a complicated society which it barely understands, its fumblings with it are busy turning it into an explosive mixture.

"The ANC leaders are like a group of children playing with a hand grenade. One day one of them will succeed in pulling out the pin, which will kill them all," said Mbeki in an opinion piece.

Fundamental differences

The head of state on Wednesday firmly disagreed with Mbeki in his office in Tuynhuys, while television footage of the Ermelo protest marches flashed in the background.

"I don't want to become personal, because it is not in my nature. But it is easy to be clever, to sit back and to criticise," he said.

Zuma explained there were fundamental differences between the governing circumstances in South Africa and Tunisia. According to him there were no parallels between the history, politics and social conditions of the two countries.

"How and on which basis to you compare apples and guavas? That is how it is with analysts: They analyse and criticise without doing the work or giving alternatives. Really, we don't have to waste too much time on this."

The violence in Ermelo also came up during Wednesday's debate about Zuma's State of the Union address in the National Assembly.

Mduduzi Manana, an ANC MP from Ermelo, pleaded with young people from his hometown for a "ceasefire".

Ceasefire

"Young people, declare a ceasefire, let pupils go to school, don't start fires and loot stores," he said.

"Your impatience is justified, but your frustration with unemployment will be solved, because the president has declared that this year is a year of job creation."

The DA took Zuma to task and criticised him because he gave too little attention to local governmental matters.

DA spokesperson for co-operative governance, James Lorimer, said it was due to corruption, nepotism and collusion that municipalities were collapsing. "Municipal failures are no act of God, they're a direct result of the ANC's failed policy directions."

According to Municipal IQ, an independent online information service, 111 protests were reported last year, compared to 105 in 2009 and 27 in 2008.

you just have to wonder if one day these people will all rally in central joburg and demand an end to the current regime of kleptocratic paternalism.

sure in theory they could just vote for someone else, but the reality of SA politics is that nothing really happens outside of the ANC and most people will never vote against the ANC. When they get fed up, they will protest against the ANC and demand an intra-ANC regime change. Much like in egypt/tunisia it is not clear if thing would change for better of for worse if ever that were to happen.

Why is this a thread?
There was a frikken protest, a strike, now its over...once again, a tiny molehill gets magnified into Mt Everest. Ridiculous.

It goes beyond a protest. The problem has not been remedied at causal level, and masses of people are choosing to ignore the part they play in their own self persecution. Applying a 'band-aid' by transmogrifying apartheid from the majority to the minorities, hoping it will solve all problems is folly at best. With nothing solved and no willingness to do so, one can expect more poverty, and it can be expected in abundance.

omw the kiwi fruit is still lurking through the SA forums....

It is actually laughable that Kiwi is still there, trying not to pounce on a non-story like this but unable to restrain himself if it looks like an opportunity to trash SA.

I know its boring down there under down under, but for your own sake try find something else to occupy yourself with...

He's secretly planning his return , quick warn Zuma so that we can block the borders :lol:

I opened this thread to keep track of what's to come. Govt can't be feeling too at ease. The country is brewing, and the idiots running the country had better step up to the plate.

Not sure I agree with the reason for opening the thread. If it is to keep track of the various and unrelated strikes and protests we have and will have from time to time, then fine.

But if its some correlation to things occurring in places like North Africa, in countries with long running dictatorships with huge muslim majorities, and pressure from hard core islamic groups - then please, it is a non-discussion.

I would LOVE to see Zim doing the same as Egypt, peaceful (mostly) liberation through popular protest..

We would hope so, but I doubt it. Mugabe is a murderer and will likely follow the Lybian route.

^^ Without a doubt. Mugabe won't even allow a peaceful election without bloodshed, never mind a huge public uprising. Mugabe will also destroy all who stand in his way and if they do succeed, he'll claim he "died a martyr," just like the clown-haired, tent-revolutionary, tyrant polecat, Ghadaffi.

Zuma is there to stay,keep dreaming:)

Zuma is there to stay,keep dreaming:)

That's not a good thing. :ohno:
If people have a problem with the ANC, don't vote for them, leave your unions and learn to understand that burning local businesses isn't there to help your cause.