Zuma is not the first politician who has had to deal with a medical condition
12 August 2021 - 05:00
byPaul Ash
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Alive and well: Schabir Shaik got medical parole after serving just two years of a 15-year corruption sentence. Picture: Jackie Clausen
American rock poet Lou Reed had a good eye for political farce.
They say the president’s dead but no-one can find his head / It’s been missing now for weeks / But no-one noticed it he had seemed so fit / And I’m sick of it.
There is nothing new about powerful people struggling with ailments that hamper their ability to do the things they are supposed to — you know, like run the country or serve a jail sentence.
Ronald Reagan may or may not have begun developing Alzheimer’s during the final years of his presidency. Many believed his condition was hidden in the same way that presidents Franklin D Roosevelt’s polio, JFK’s autoimmune condition and Grover Cleveland’s jaw tumour had been.
How these ailments play out under the flamethrower of the public gaze is the difference between accountability and farce.
Once, while giving an after-dinner speech during a state visit to Brazil, Reagan thanked the "brave people of Bolivia". An aide whispered a correction, whereupon the president grinned and said: "Ah, well, they both begin with a ‘B’, and, anyway, Bolivia’s where we’re going next." (It’s also possible that he was deliberately sticking it to Brazil.)
Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe spent much of the last years of his misrule shuttling between Harare and Singapore for treatment for a debilitating condition, leaving behind political and social instability — and a power vacuum that was rapidly filled.
Closer to home, former president Jacob Zuma’s former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, got medical parole after serving just two years and four months of a 15-year sentence. The recovery included a stint at Thanda private game reserve.
The only thing surprising about the precedent set for the ex-president is that anyone is surprised.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Doctor’s orders, then and now
Zuma is not the first politician who has had to deal with a medical condition
American rock poet Lou Reed had a good eye for political farce.
They say the president’s dead but no-one can find his head / It’s been missing now for weeks / But no-one noticed it he had seemed so fit / And I’m sick of it.
There is nothing new about powerful people struggling with ailments that hamper their ability to do the things they are supposed to — you know, like run the country or serve a jail sentence.
Ronald Reagan may or may not have begun developing Alzheimer’s during the final years of his presidency. Many believed his condition was hidden in the same way that presidents Franklin D Roosevelt’s polio, JFK’s autoimmune condition and Grover Cleveland’s jaw tumour had been.
How these ailments play out under the flamethrower of the public gaze is the difference between accountability and farce.
Once, while giving an after-dinner speech during a state visit to Brazil, Reagan thanked the "brave people of Bolivia". An aide whispered a correction, whereupon the president grinned and said: "Ah, well, they both begin with a ‘B’, and, anyway, Bolivia’s where we’re going next." (It’s also possible that he was deliberately sticking it to Brazil.)
Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe spent much of the last years of his misrule shuttling between Harare and Singapore for treatment for a debilitating condition, leaving behind political and social instability — and a power vacuum that was rapidly filled.
Closer to home, former president Jacob Zuma’s former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, got medical parole after serving just two years and four months of a 15-year sentence. The recovery included a stint at Thanda private game reserve.
The only thing surprising about the precedent set for the ex-president is that anyone is surprised.
Court demands detailed medical record from Jacob Zuma’s doctors
Zuma still under medical observation ahead of corruption trial
Zuma calls in sick for Tuesday court date
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.