Newsweek: How Nelson Mandela's Legacy Hurts South Africa

Newsweek:

A president's first-hundred-days milestone isn't as breathlessly awaited in other countries as it is in America. And so South African President Jacob Zuma�"the dancing populist who provoked so much fear and loathing before his inauguration in May�"was scheduled to spend Aug. 15 prosaically, without any intentional symbolism booked into his diary. He was to hold a winter rally in a sleepy Bloemfontein suburb and to meet with some Afrikaner businessmen in the city hall downtown. But Zuma's pedestrian hundredth day actually made a perfect tableau of his presidency thus far, an emblem in miniature of why his popularity has soared since his inauguration without really being deserved.

Read the whole story: Newsweek

Comments

[Sirdi]

10:21 AM on 08/28/2009

According to notable investigative journalist John Pilger who covered South Africa and Nelson Mandela for over 30 years, Mandela and his chosen few sold out Black South African economic interests in a variety of ways, and the current state of the plight of the Townships bear testimony to this. Read "FREEDOM NEXT TIME" by John Pilger.

"What about the "authorised version" of reality in South Africa since the end of apartheid? Pilger notes that while average household income has risen by 15%, average black household income has fallen by 19%. The World Bank in effect imposed a traditional "structural adjustment programme" after apartheid, but with the complicity of the African National Congress (ANC) government. Although the ANC certainly has its achievements, it has failed to reclaim sufficient land for the dispossessed and presides over a growing gap between rich and poor."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/jun/03/highereducation.news

[Sirdi]

02:03 PM on 08/28/2009

Not to mention - I forgot to add - Nelson ran off to the U.N. for "cover" and left his cronies to brutally invade Lesotho to prop up a corrupt leader and other nefarious considerations - first and foremost to steal their water through deals with corrupt politicians.

Lesotho was a poor landlocked country. Per capita income of $600. One of it's few resources was water. Nelson Mandela wanted it for water starved South Africa instead. This is also covered in Pilger's book, among other sites online.

Read the rest for yourselves.

[Ergon]

02:36 PM on 08/28/2009

As someone who palled around with ANC student leaders at University I understand your sentiments but here's the background: Mandela met with Harry Oppenheimer and had to agree not to nationalise the mines. That was the price of independence. If he didn't agree, the SA security services already had a plan in place to assassinate him. He made the deal, hoping for the best.
Maybe we can judge the ANC leaders, with hindsight. It is

[asichii]

09:33 AM on 08/28/2009

Ridiculously incongruous! Apart from unsuccessfully bastardizing the Mandela brand, your story and headline are pitiful. In any case you only made a tangential reference of the two in your last para. I hate sounding revisionist but you should have considered this headline: How Nelson Mandela's Legacy HELPS (not hurt) South Africa. As for Zuma, he is another i.d.i.o.t groping in the dark. For those of us who have emotionally followed the Zimbabwean debacle, it is sickening to see Zuma sitting on the same fence built by predecessor Thabo Mbeki, tacitly entrenching the Mugabe kleptocracy. I only agree with you when you describe Zuma as 'lustful'. But I wonder whether this libidinous old man, hiding behind antiquated practices like polygamy, will not bankrupt the fiscus to sustain his 'at least' 5 wives (as of last count). At that rate (of 'marrying'), he must be hoarding truckloads of viagra!

[Billy Hell]

09:53 AM on 08/28/2009

It would seem you know zip about Zuma other than the mainstream media have led you to believe, and you clearly know less about Zimbabwe. Another thing, your racial prejudice is clearly sticking out from under your skirt with the derogatory statements you make about his cultural values.

[TrueZulu]

10:47 AM on 08/28/2009

I had to create an account just to respond to your racist comment. poligamy is not "antequated". it's zulu culture practised by many zulu's (poor, rich, educated, illeterate) including zuma. you racisim allows you to conclude that this is antequated.
what's different from you are accustomed to is not "evil".
---
As for some of your "facts". you need to do some reading before you point at others as "i.d.i.o.t.s" (while you wag your finger see where the other fingers are pointing)
Zuma is one of the early leaders to denounce mugabe and is actively working on the zimbabwe issue. see here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iBSIAxJmL8eqIR5kNVfAJ0gwmGLQD9ABR2SO0
---
Mandela was not perfect, nor was Mbeki, nor is Zuma... and you are not the custodian of the "Mandela brand". You don't sound like you know much about him at all (he had multiple marriages too - with kids to prove it). That doesn't make him a bad leader.... do some reading!

[asichii]

03:50 PM on 08/28/2009

@TrueZulu...
Polygamy is a product of male chauvinism that treated women as s l a v e s throughout history. All-powerful man grabbing as many women as they please to saisfy their lustful desires. In the past (and probably now in your Zulu 'tradition') women were even subjects of forced marriages having been raided and snatched away from their families against their will. It was all 'as per tradition'. What about polyandary (woman with several husbands) for a change? How would you take that, big man?

Zuma and South Africa could have done more to help salvage the Zimbabwe situation. Issuing a politically expedient statement only once in a life-time without concrete action is lame. This 'pan-Africanist brotherhood n o n s e n s e that shields dic tators caused thousands of d e a t h s across your the Limpopo River.

[NevaforLeadership]

08:09 AM on 08/28/2009

Shallow, shallow article, without the slightest idea about the troubles lurking in South Africa.

[baba2nde]

08:05 AM on 08/28/2009

Very poorly worded headline.

[bilmardre]

07:02 AM on 08/28/2009

"But Mbeki's nurturing skills—or woeful lack thereof—filled as many newspaper-column inches as his economic designs."

Sounds like the culprit is the press, as it so often is. Creating controversy where there is none.

[dimplesmile7]

06:42 AM on 08/28/2009

I have a major problem with the title of this article. It's very tabloid like.

[fredjernig]

05:57 AM on 08/28/2009

from the article: "It's too early to judge Zuma's presidency, but he has made several errors of the kind you wouldn't expect to inflate his popularity: some early appointments for crucial posts (on the national police commission, for example) have gone to political allies, and others have been botched completely (a new Constitutional Court chief justice was announced, then de-announced; Zuma blamed "a slip of the tongue, literally"). As for those 500,000 new jobs, the anticipated rollout of a national health-insurance plan, and the awaited change of direction on Zimbabwe—there hasn't been too much at all.

Boilerplate for any country. For the US, let's change a few details for fun:

It's too early to judge Obama's presidency, but he has made several errors of the kind you wouldn't expect to inflate his popularity: some early appointments for crucial posts (CIA chief, Secretary of Treasury) have gone to political allies, and others have been botched completely (Tom Daschle for HHS was announced, then withdrew because he had failed to pay taxes, as had the Secretary of Treasury who was nonetheless confirmed). As for those thousands of new jobs, the anticipated rollout of national health-insurance reform, and the awaited change of direction on Afghanistan—there hasn't been too much at all...

And of course, unlike SA, we civilized westerners do not expect any emotional connection to our Presidents. Things like being a nice guy to have a beer with always lose out to a real grasp of issues.

[humaneismyth]

06:46 AM on 08/28/2009

excellent!

[fredwenn]

07:30 AM on 08/28/2009

excellent....

now OUT the ethnicity of the demons who perpetuate this crap.

HINT -- they don't like GAZANS

[AFAN]

07:59 AM on 08/28/2009

You cannot compare President Zuma right now to President Obama. South Africa's situation is far different than U.S. problems.

[DucksnDrakes]

03:03 AM on 08/28/2009

Newsweek piece is not particularly offensive, although its conclusions are wrong. Typical of foreign correspondents who feel qualified after a short time here to make sweeping judgments.

We don't need to be overly defensive. We know better than anyone what we've got right, wrong and the immense job still to be done. Anyone who has lived here their whole life should acknowledge that we still need BOTH the emotional and practical delivery aspects in our president. To think scars of apartheid fade in 15 years is naive and underestimates how profound and long-lasting its impact. I see it every single day. Even with the best government, it will take generations.

At a practical level, JayZee has begun major shifts in health and education. We still need to see practical outcomes of this, though. Admitting mistakes is no longer thought of as weakness. The response to unrest in poor areas has been mature and engaging. JayZee recently pitched up at the mayor's office in one of the townships worst hit only to find that the guy had knocked off early, and then demanded that he get back to the job he's supposed to be doing.

Personally, I am not materially as well off as I was or could have been but that's a relatively small price to pay. In the "new" South Africa I am the now the "wrong" colour, but I still love the country of my birth, with all its faults and crime risks. I'm staying.

[Billy Hell]

09:37 AM on 08/28/2009

Well said DucksnDrakes.

[darthmaul]

02:24 AM on 08/28/2009

This article is a bunch of nonsense and it's patronizing to the South African people. Thabo Mbeki made a lot of mistakes, in particular his belief in "herbal cures" for HIV/AIDS. Rather then being dissatisfied with a candidate because he's not Mandela, I think the problem is that people expect too much too soon. That's just human nature.

[newyorkid]

01:09 AM on 08/28/2009

Newsweek and H_uff Post are just a 2ionist p_ropaganda outlet now attacking South Africa for approving arms sales to lran, North Korea, Syria, Libya, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

[AFAN]

01:15 AM on 08/28/2009

WHOAA!! But you have a good defense.

[FHTB]

03:39 AM on 08/28/2009

Feeling like venting a little more, there? Dial back the hate.

[moonflowerjewelry]

12:11 AM on 08/28/2009

i must be getting old... i remember my first year after highschool graduation, moving away from my small, provincial New Mexico town, and learning about Nelson Mandela, still imprisoned, as well as the bloody struggles in places like Nicaruagua. .. who would have thought, at that time, that Mandela's legacy would be of such profound forgiveness and desire to build a cohesive whole out of a deeply splintered society... crazy.

[sbrown80]

12:00 AM on 08/28/2009

None of you read the entire article. Your responses reflect tht fact.

[AFAN]

12:02 AM on 08/28/2009

I have read it and the headline is way off!

[humaneismyth]

06:49 AM on 08/28/2009

"read" its early here ..

[humaneismyth]

06:48 AM on 08/28/2009

i've erad it through twice

[juhar]

11:58 PM on 08/27/2009

Nelson Mandela's legacy hurts South Africa the same way the legacies of Ted Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John F. Kennedy, Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt hurt the United States of America. There just isn't enough good guys to pick up and continue the good fight.

[Ergon]

11:19 PM on 08/27/2009

The article is typical Americanese: all about style, and not the substance.
http://www.southafrica.to/people/Quotes/JacobZuma/JacobZuma.htm
"RW Johnson
8 October 2006
"The notion that the country could soon be ruled by an uneducated Zulu whose strongest supporters, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, make no secret of their wish to nationalise the banks, the mines and other major industries, has scared business rigid." RW Johnson writing for the London Sunday Times."
would be why Jacob Zuma has been attacked for the last three years, and before that Thabo Mbeki, and before that Nelson Mandela: to keep the black man in his place.

[Feanor]

10:35 PM on 08/27/2009

ridiculous premise, headline, and article

[flurryup]

10:54 PM on 08/27/2009

Huff Post-Tabloid!

[ZimboChick]

11:31 PM on 08/27/2009

Could not agree with you more. I think as of today I will avoid all ridiculous looking headlines because this click economy is sending this once vibrant blog, to the chihuhuas