Ten Criticisms levelled against Jacob Zuma: In the wake of the Mangaung euphoria, Walter Mothapo examines ten main criticisms levelled against Jacob Zuma and examines if there is substance in them.
1. He is anti-women
In this instance mention is made of his "rape case" and polygamous marriages. The fact that he was acquitted of rape is either forgotten or ignored. Also one would have thought that if his polygamous marriage was a political problem the ANC membership would have rejected his election bid in the Polokwane conference. But even when he lobbied for Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to assume AU chairperson position critiques exclaimed "aha, now that he is afraid of her challenge come Mangaung he wants to send her to Ethiopia".
2. He is uneducated
Utterances are made that he doesn't know the gate of a school yard. One commentator even invented a new English vocabulary that Zuma is, wait a minute, a "ruralitarian"! Implying that he lacks urban sophistication to lead a big economy in Africa; as if South Africa is one big city like New York.
Zuma might not be learned in terms of formal qualifications but to say he is uneducated is to shy away from truth. It beats me as to how can a person who is able to read and write without assistance and then articulate his views and perspectives on a wide range of issues be deemed to be uneducated? A couple of Universities have also conferred honorary Doctoral degrees on him because he met a certain academic criteria to qualify for such accolades. His astute diplomatic and negotiation skills that have brought about peace in Burundi are brushed aside. I don't expect a person with low education to record such a peaceful facilitation in a sovereign country.