Pay back the money, give us the tapes and bring back our country
Zuma is on the ropes as the opposition guns for his head while South Africa’s future potentially hangs in the balance.
The last person I would like to be at the moment is President Jacob Zuma, while the EFF continues to chant “Pay back the money!” and the DA says “Give us the tapes!”, South Africans are probably hoping for the resignation of the president.
It appears as though that the ghost of Nkandla and the spy tapes have finally come to haunt President Zuma. Most of us will remember that in 2009, his corruption charges were conveniently dropped just before the elections.
The tapes allegedly include the internal memoranda, record of meetings and minutes dealing with the contents of telephone recordings of the conversation between the former head of the now defunct Scorpions, Leonard McCarthy, and the NPA’s former head, Bulelani Ngcuka.
The recordings allegedly prove that the two were colluding to manipulate the prosecutorial process before the ANC’s crucial Polokwane elective conference in 2007, when Jacob Zuma was elected the party’s president ahead of the then president Thabo Mbeki.
Today (September 4), the tapes were released and DA leader Helen Zille said South Africa’s democracy depended on the delivery of the so-called Zuma spy tapes, which will pave the way for a review of the corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma.
According to Eyewitness News (EWN), Zille said it has taken five years and six court cases to reach this stage, stressing that everyone is equal before the law.
Earlier this year, the public protector found that President Zuma and his family had unduly benefited from the security upgrades at his Nkandla home. The report showed that some of the features on the upgrades were not related to security.
Today, whether silently or loudly – South Africans are demanding that the president needs to pay back the money as indicated in the public protector’s report.
The EFF’s chants and the DA’s public stunt outside the North Gauteng High Court are an indication that South Africans have heard enough and one man is the target – President Jacob Zuma. As citizens, we need to demand our country back.
We need to feel the pride and excitement we shared back in 1994. The only difference now is that we need to see our lives moving forward. Unfortunately, a ‘corrupt’ president is most likely to move the country backwards – and under the current administration, we can only wonder if we have really moved forward.
The general shout may be “Pay back the money!” or “Give us the tapes!”. What is clear out of all this is one message from all South Africans, “Bring back our country!” A black man and a white man have suffered enough under Jacob Zuma’s administration – it is time for change and it must happen now!
