GARETH VAN ONSELEN: Jacob Zuma’s 10 most reckless comments as president
Zuma uses racial scapegoats, appeals for a patriotic press, paternalistic tribalism and Biblical threats to mask his failure and ANC’s giant patronage machine
If a picture tells a thousand words then a powerful quote can do the same. It is true that on occasion they can take on a life of their own and their intended meaning spirals out of control. But, for the most part, a good quote works as a metaphorical gateway to a broader attitude or problem. President Jacob Zuma has produced a fair number of them. Each one is backed up by a relative mountain of evidence that speaks to one controversy or another. Selecting the 10 most egregious quotes is an arbitrary exercise. There are many Zuma quotes that did not make this list. Nevertheless, as the country again turns its attention to the president on Wednesday, it is worth trying to define the worst of the worst. Each quote below was selected because it speaks to an attitude that has had consequences far beyond the sentiment expressed. Each one of them is an illustration, then, of a far grander concern: 10 themes to have defined the Zuma presidency. They almost all drove intense subsequent deba...
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