The piece by Isaac Mpho Mogotsi is preposterous in the extreme and is clearly informed by a personal dislike rather than an objective assessment of the President's record (see here and here).
Many critics of President Zuma unfortunately become so emotional that they fail to see his achievements and those of the country.
President Zuma's record actually indicates that he has made progress in various fronts. He has done exceptionally well in many leadership positions in the ANC and government. President Zuma is one of the longest serving members of the ANC national executive committee a body he has served since 1975, taking up many difficult tasks, including working very hard in frontline areas like Mozambique and Swaziland to being the party's intelligence head.
President Zuma is hardly credited for his sterling and selfless contribution in helping to bring about peace to KwaZulu-Natal and therefore to the entire country. President Zuma was part of a core group of ANC leaders that were part of negotiating a peaceful settlement for our country. This included his tireless work in negotiating with members of the Afrikaner community who were willing to start talks with the ANC a task which he was mandated by the ANC President OR Tambo to be part of.
On his return, he worked diligently in rebuilding the ANC, serving as both its deputy general secretary and chairman of KwaZulu-Natal ANC. President Zuma was responsible for exporting peace beyond our borders, assisting President Nelson Mandela in the Burundi peace process, a task he performed with flying colours.
President Zuma spent and dedicated countless hours of his time to Burundi to get it onto the path of peace. At an international level President Zuma continues to be a leading figure in many efforts to create peace and stability in the continent, his role in brokering peace in Zimbabwe continues to be highly valued by the people of Zimbabwe and those in the SADC region. Zimbabwe is on the way to economic recovery today largely due to the efforts of South Africa and the role that President Zuma plays as a facilitator on behalf of SADC.
The standing of South Africa within the continent has been largely enhanced by the recent election of the first woman as the Chairperson of the AU, thus rewarding the sterling work that President Zuma had personally championed.
Today President Zuma is adding new life to government and governance. When he said he would change the way government works it sounded like rhetoric. But those changes are apparent now. The first key changes he introduced was the introduction of the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency to make Ministers more accountable and also the National Planning Commission, to deal with the problem of short-term planning in government.
The National Planning Commission has been an outstanding achievement. The National Development Plan has opened a window to the future.
For the first time, ministers sign performance and delivery agreements, something unheard of in previous democratic governments. Reports are provided to him directly and to Cabinet. He has established a department that is able to give him quick snapshots of the performance of every department. The system is not perfect yet, but we are getting there.
Most importantly, the infrastructure revolution that he is personally championing will change the country's landscape for the better. Already all around the country work is being done to replace mud schools, renovate hospitals, build power stations, roads and a lot of other work, some of which had already been started but needed better coordination and championing.
For instance his government has turned around the fight against HIV and AIDS which has been one of major weaknesses for a long time. Following the dramatic announcements of a turnaround strategy on the 1st of December 2009 and its implementation, the rate of new infections decreased from 1.4 percent to 0.8 percent in the 15-24 age groups and more people were put on treatment than ever before thus improving life expectancy. There is also the remarkable 50 percent reduction in mother-to-child transmission of HIV from about 8 percent in 2008 to 3,5 percent in 2011.
Remarkably, 20 million people have to date been tested for HIV through the HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign, launched publicly by President Zuma in 2010 when he took an HIV test. Thus the stigma around the disease is being eradicated which will assist prevention efforts.
More importantly, President Zuma remains the President everyone can speak to, accessible, willing to listen and who treats all South Africans as equally deserving of his time and attention.
People must judge President Zuma on his work and his track record. They must not allow their prejudice to cloud their assessment of the President and government.
More importantly, people must also look at themselves and assess their own contribution to building a better South Africa. It cannot be the responsibility of President Zuma alone.
Working together we can do more!
Sifiso Moshoetsi is the head of communication research in the Presidency
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