"If you wanna live, live; I beg you treat me good; I'm like a walking razor; Don't you watch my size; I'm dangerous; said I'm dangerous ."
Peter Tosh's song has been reverberating in my head for some time now, and I didn't know why all of a sudden. That is until I remembered that I'd started singing it when I read the story of how Jacob Zuma, considered dead and buried at the national executive committee (NEC) meeting of the ANC, had come out not only alive and kicking - but with guns blazing.
As a true African who believes in attaching a song to every occasion, I thought the Tosh song would be the song he would sing to mark yet another occasion of his survival.
Those fellows at the NEC should by now know the chap they are dealing with. It's either they fight against him really, or they don't. The man doesn't deal in half measures. When he fights he goes all out. Many of us still remember how then National Prosecuting Authority head Bulelani Ngcuka, supported by then justice minister Penuell Maduna, made the public announcement that there was a prima facie case of corruption against Zuma, but that he would not be prosecuted.
Based on this "case", he was fired as deputy president. On his way out, he memorably told the nation how he was a victim of a political conspiracy. He ominously added: Ngelusa, ngaqhathwa (I herded cattle, I engaged in stick fighting [as a boy])". But beyond its literal meaning, this utterance is one a Zulu man, especially the kind who was brought up in rural areas, would make when feeling under threat, or when his credentials at fighting his own battles come under question.
When you're dealing with this kind of chap, you must know your story. You're dealing with what Tosh called a "steppin' razor". Dangerous. Playing victim of a political conspiracy after his sacking, Zuma then went to the liberation movement's musical archives and dragged out the tried and tested tear-jerking song Mshini Wam'. He sang it at every public forum in which he appeared - be it in court, political rallies, or in church. It's an emotive song, and also rolls easily off the tongue.
He was acquitted of a rape charge in 2006. Then three years later, 783 corruption charges against him were dropped. In 2012 Zuma faced another leadership challenge - this time against Kgalema Motlanthe in Mangaung. He won. Then he embraced a new song: Yinde lendlela esiyihambayo! (It's a long road we're on).
In 2014, then public protector Thuli Madonsela ruled that Zuma had unduly used taxpayers' money for upgrades to his Nkandla homestead. Zuma fought that battle, defeating impeachment proceedings over the scandal in April 2016. Yes, he was ordered by the Constitutional Court and the Treasury to repay the government R7.8-million - but his hands were still on the levers of power.
Who can forget how Zuma came under fire over his close relationship with the Gupta family after they'd been exposed as such influential power-brokers that they can influence ministerial appointments? Case in point: in 2015 Zuma fired then finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, replacing him with Des van Rooyen. The appointment sparked an outcry, saw the rand plummeting, thus forcing Zuma to replace Van Rooyen with Pravin Gordhan within a few days.
Zuma still survived all of this. On numerous occasions, opposition parties in parliament railed against him, and his appropriateness as head of state, to no effect. Last week's bid was yet another trite refrain. We knew ANC MPs would support Zuma, as they did, using their numeric superiority in the House to defeat that motion.
Ordinary South Africans were therefore discombobulated when they learnt that at an ANC NEC meeting in Pretoria over the weekend, some members had tabled a vote of no confidence in Zuma. This whole sorry saga ended up sourly, the members who'd raised the motion backing off. Why had they started this if they were not prepared to go all out?
But his victory came at a price for the country: the rand fell almost 2% against the dollar, reversing gains that lifted it to near three-week highs. Emboldened by his victory, the ANC Youth League in KwaZulu-Natal came out guns blazing, asking him to reshuffle his cabinet.
By the look of things, a reshuffle is on the cards. In all these battles for control, everyone seems to have lost sight of the country's welfare. Imagine the struggle we will have in attempts to rebuild the public's trust once Zuma is gone. It's a long road we're on. Let's just hope and pray it won't lead to perdition.
- Khumalo's new book #ZuptasMustFall and Other Rants is now available at bookstores
Wanna fight Zuma? better go all out
"If you wanna live, live; I beg you treat me good; I'm like a walking razor; Don't you watch my size; I'm dangerous; said I'm dangerous ."
Peter Tosh's song has been reverberating in my head for some time now, and I didn't know why all of a sudden. That is until I remembered that I'd started singing it when I read the story of how Jacob Zuma, considered dead and buried at the national executive committee (NEC) meeting of the ANC, had come out not only alive and kicking - but with guns blazing.
As a true African who believes in attaching a song to every occasion, I thought the Tosh song would be the song he would sing to mark yet another occasion of his survival.
Those fellows at the NEC should by now know the chap they are dealing with. It's either they fight against him really, or they don't. The man doesn't deal in half measures. When he fights he goes all out. Many of us still remember how then National Prosecuting Authority head Bulelani Ngcuka, supported by then justice minister Penuell Maduna, made the public announcement that there was a prima facie case of corruption against Zuma, but that he would not be prosecuted.
Based on this "case", he was fired as deputy president. On his way out, he memorably told the nation how he was a victim of a political conspiracy. He ominously added: Ngelusa, ngaqhathwa (I herded cattle, I engaged in stick fighting [as a boy])". But beyond its literal meaning, this utterance is one a Zulu man, especially the kind who was brought up in rural areas, would make when feeling under threat, or when his credentials at fighting his own battles come under question.
When you're dealing with this kind of chap, you must know your story. You're dealing with what Tosh called a "steppin' razor". Dangerous. Playing victim of a political conspiracy after his sacking, Zuma then went to the liberation movement's musical archives and dragged out the tried and tested tear-jerking song Mshini Wam'. He sang it at every public forum in which he appeared - be it in court, political rallies, or in church. It's an emotive song, and also rolls easily off the tongue.
He was acquitted of a rape charge in 2006. Then three years later, 783 corruption charges against him were dropped. In 2012 Zuma faced another leadership challenge - this time against Kgalema Motlanthe in Mangaung. He won. Then he embraced a new song: Yinde lendlela esiyihambayo! (It's a long road we're on).
In 2014, then public protector Thuli Madonsela ruled that Zuma had unduly used taxpayers' money for upgrades to his Nkandla homestead. Zuma fought that battle, defeating impeachment proceedings over the scandal in April 2016. Yes, he was ordered by the Constitutional Court and the Treasury to repay the government R7.8-million - but his hands were still on the levers of power.
Who can forget how Zuma came under fire over his close relationship with the Gupta family after they'd been exposed as such influential power-brokers that they can influence ministerial appointments? Case in point: in 2015 Zuma fired then finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, replacing him with Des van Rooyen. The appointment sparked an outcry, saw the rand plummeting, thus forcing Zuma to replace Van Rooyen with Pravin Gordhan within a few days.
Zuma still survived all of this. On numerous occasions, opposition parties in parliament railed against him, and his appropriateness as head of state, to no effect. Last week's bid was yet another trite refrain. We knew ANC MPs would support Zuma, as they did, using their numeric superiority in the House to defeat that motion.
Ordinary South Africans were therefore discombobulated when they learnt that at an ANC NEC meeting in Pretoria over the weekend, some members had tabled a vote of no confidence in Zuma. This whole sorry saga ended up sourly, the members who'd raised the motion backing off. Why had they started this if they were not prepared to go all out?
But his victory came at a price for the country: the rand fell almost 2% against the dollar, reversing gains that lifted it to near three-week highs. Emboldened by his victory, the ANC Youth League in KwaZulu-Natal came out guns blazing, asking him to reshuffle his cabinet.
By the look of things, a reshuffle is on the cards. In all these battles for control, everyone seems to have lost sight of the country's welfare. Imagine the struggle we will have in attempts to rebuild the public's trust once Zuma is gone. It's a long road we're on. Let's just hope and pray it won't lead to perdition.
- Khumalo's new book #ZuptasMustFall and Other Rants is now available at bookstores
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