According to Alec Hogg, writing this week on his Moneyweb website, President Jacob Zuma charmed the perfidious media (as usual) in snow-covered Davos, Switzerland. Zuma had dropped in to the gathering of the world's financial and economic movers and shakers (the World Economic Forum), who get together every year to impress one another with their erudition, charm, and so forth.
The President also, incidentally, lost the ANC and himself a future supporter. After reading in Hogg's report that Zuma had been unmasked at Davos as a Liverpool supporter in the English premiership, my 15-year-old son, a gunner to the core, said that was that - he was mightily annoyed with Zuma. My son said the news confirmed that Zuma was sillier than he (my son) had previously thought. Oh well, the youth of today are unplayable, as we all know.
In his address to the media Zuma also, unsurprisingly, had his mind on football - the upcoming soccer World Cup to be precise. He "deftly" (according to Hogg) handled a question about security concerns during the tournament and then said, inter alia, the following:
"(Besides the soccer tournament) 2010 is also an important year for us because we will be marking the 20th anniversary of the re lease of Nelson Mandela from prison, which kick-started dramatic political change.
"We have achieved a lot since that dramatic day of February 11, 1990. South Africa has performed admirably in the economic, political and social spheres. This includes the political transition to a democratic State, the subsequent strengthening of South Africa's democratic institutions, as well as economic growth. We have built a resilient economy which has been able to survive the global economic crisis, and which is actually beginning to show signs of recovery.
"We have not been spared the job losses, but we have put plans in place, working together as business, labour and government to ensure that the recovery becomes faster and inclusive. We are making significant improvements in key areas of domestic policy, such as health, education, as well as visible, vigorous and effective crime prevention. The country's transport, energy, telecommunications and social infrastructure are being up graded and expanded. This is contributing to economic development in the midst of a global recession, while improving conditions for investment. This investment has been made possible by the judicious management of the country's finances. It is thanks to this approach that we have been able to respond to the first recession of the democratic era without placing undue strain on our public borrowing requirements."
Fair enough. But are we making "significant improvements" in health, education, and crime prevention? There's been a lot of talk-talk and I, for one, am a great believer in talking. But, after a while, preferably a short one, someone has to start walking the talk.
And those who have to use public health facilities - and one can go to them oneself - will tell you that it's time for a great deal of walking, not talking. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi also gets a good press. But so far he's not achieved much, other than setting targets. And setting targets might be a good thing, like talking, but doing so doesn't put the ball into the back of the opposition's net.
Angie Motshekga, the basic education minister, moved fast by pronouncing that out comes-based education was verby. But, again, there's a sector that is a disaster - it's not just about matric results. It's about what's happening to those poor people, our children, during all the years leading to the final one. (I mean, what kind of education system produces a lad - like mine - who supports Arsenal before Bafana Bafana?)
These days my field of endeavour, besides a little scribbling, lies on the fringe of what is ponderously called the "criminal justice system". I direct Wits journalism's Justice Project that looks into the plight of those who might have been unjustly or unfairly convicted. And I can tell you for free that "the system" is a very sick puppy. It's dysfunctional. But no one seems even to be setting targets in this sector. Everyone seems, rather, to be thinking about soccer.
And of course it is soccer that is going to pull the fat out of the fire for Zuma and his government. His press is going to continue being favourable for another six months. I just wonder about afterwards.
Jeremy Gordin is a veteran journalist and author of Zuma: A Biography. This article first appeared in the Daily Dispatch.
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