Zuma had his chance to galvanise South Africans — but he blew it
President Jacob Zuma’s gearshift in his state of the nation address are symptomatic of a failing regime
President Jacob Zuma presented his 2017 state of the nation address against a background of mounting socioeconomic challenges for a country that’s squandered its development opportunities. Many would have been hoping for a speech that showed some sense of urgency to save the situation. Those hopes were dashed. South Africans will now be looking for some saving grace in Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s budget. But there is also a dark cloud hanging over him. The president seems to be preoccupied with moving the one person who has helped the country from tipping over into calamity. Zuma wasted lots of time in his speech on cheap politicking wrapped in what he termed "radical socioeconomic transformation". His characterisation of this played into the narrative that the South African economy is being held hostage by "white monopoly capital", a bogeyman invented by Zuma’s allies. Zuma could have embarked on an honest assessment of challenges facing the country and calling for innovative...
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