President Zuma's ‘quiet diplomacy' within his own party is hurting South Africa

Note to editors: This is an extract of the speech that was delivered by DA Parliamentary Leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, today, while addressing DASO at Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan University (NMMU) as part of their Student Representative Council (SRC) election campaign.

Good afternoon, friends!

I am very happy to be here today to support DASO Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University's Presidential candidate, Yanga Sibelekwana.

I would like to first pay tribute to the marvellous work of Yusuf Cassim. Yusuf led DASO to a famous victory in 2011, and we are very proud of him. 

I can hardly believe a year has passed since I came here last year to thank students for voting for change by giving DASO a chance to serve. Thank you again. There can be no doubt that Yusef's election changed the lives of all NMMU students for the better.

DASO's achievements are significant because it shows that more and more young people are using their freedom, even in the campus ballot box, to gain access to life-changing opportunities. 

DASO believes that education is the cornerstone of the liberation of all South Africans. Education is the driver for the full achievement of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution.

Unfolding from this, your achievements are impressive. And it is worth recounting them.

You are the first and only SRC nationally to have championed a debt clearance agreement clearing full student debts of all students with access to financial aid.

DASO pioneered and implemented an SRC Bailout fund which assisted students without access to financial aid.

You pioneered and introduced a new shuttle service meeting the immediate needs of students through the first phase of our shuttle vision which should have been championed at least three years ago.

DASO eased the NSFAS criteria for students to retain their funding by restructuring the academic qualifying threshold.

You increased NSFAS meal allowances by 50% for off-campus students and an additional R1000 for on campus students.

DASO ensured that the entire cost of staying in an off-campus accredited residence is covered for NSFAS students.

You moved the honours bursary to the post-graduate bursaries office to increase its coverage.

DASO created a bursary to assist post-graduate students affected by the new fee structure introduced last year.

DASO made SRC social events more accessible, affordable and diverse.

You are the first NMMU SRC to account transparently to all students in less than 8 months.

And you changed the Institution's WiFi strategy to cover all residence annexes and common areas before 2013 and all rooms during 2013.

If DASO managed to do all these things in one year, imagine the possibilities if it is given a second chance to serve in 2012.

DASO and the DA are working hard to create equality of opportunities across South Africa from this campus to DA-led municipalities, and the provincial government of the Western Cape.

Unfortunately, this cannot be said of President Jacob Zuma, whose government lurches from disaster to disaster. Take education. 

After being questioned about South Africa's education system being ranked third from the bottom by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Parliament last week, he claimed that our education system was better than during apartheid. Even if this statement were technically true, since when was the apartheid state our moral yardstick?

Mr Zuma clearly has not looked into the eyes of young learners in Limpopo, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Mpumalanga, who have not received textbooks; or heard the cries of learners in the Northern Cape, who are unable to get to their schools because of public protests.

His denialism of the real state of the nation is as damaging as President Mbeki's AIDS denialism, and his denialism about the crisis in Zimbabwe. The comparison is an important one. As Mr Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" failed Zimbabwe, Mr Zuma's "quiet diplomacy" of trying to manage his party's warring factions is failing South Africa.

This morning Mr Zuma went to address Cosatu's elective congress in Gauteng. It is clear that the President went to visit his bosses, and not the other way round. From the Youth Wage Subsidy to principals' performance contracts, Cosatu has given the President his instructions. He unquestioningly takes these orders because he needs Cosatu's support in December. 

He had an opportunity today to tell Cosatu to stop blocking the Youth Wage Subsidy and the implementation of performance contracts for school principals. He could also have exercised leadership by holding them accountable for its affiliated union - NUM's - role in the Marikana tragedy. Of course, he will say none of this today.

Ladies and gentleman, let us be clear, we are all failed by this cowardly ‘quiet diplomacy' he is currently engaged in with South Africa.

No one in 2012, including his closest allies, would claim that President Zuma is a repository of hope.

Stony silence will not make the President's problems evaporate. As the tragedy of Marikana unfolds, the President does not deem it appropriate take the nation into his confidence. We need reassurance, direction and accountability now.

Yesterday, the Presidency issued a statement claiming that comments about the meaning of democracy made by the President in Parliament were "misconstrued". This four-day-later response reveals a desperate attempt at damage control.

In his response to my question on whether the trade union, AMCU, should have been given an opportunity to participate in the negotiations with Lonmin, President Zuma said: We have more rights here because we are in a majority. You have fewer rights because you are in a minority. That's how democracy works.

There was nothing in the President's statement to be misconstrued. His comments were clear for all to hear. President Zuma has again revealed himself as someone who simply does not understand the basic principles that our constitutional democracy is built upon.

This echoes a number of concerning comments he has made on our constitution before. "[The ANC is] more important than the constitution. The constitution is only [there] to regulate matters."

This is a president who does not believe the constitution is above the ANC. In his mind, the constitution is only there to serve the ANC's interests. Our constitutional democracy is not safe in the hands of the ANC.

The problem for the president is that he inadvertently revealed his true political complexion. As young political activists you know that every use of rhetoric immediately raises issues of motive and intention.

A speech, or a statement in the National Assembly, can never simply be an argument or pronouncement for a president. A leader must present a convincing depiction of their character, competence, and intentions. Mr Zuma has failed by all three counts.

A leader must also identify with what they perceive as the needs and opportunities of their constituency: the entire nation in the President's case. An authentic leader invests their love, pain and courage. DASO has done this here for its fellow students. But I don't know about you, I just don't see these qualities in the President.

I think we need to be candid. This Presidency is doomed because Mr Zuma lacks one definitive idea that he can claim as his own.

He has promised everything, and delivered nothing. He fails to manage expectations for one simple reason: leadership often means cutting against the grain of expectations - not simply swimming with the tide.

The president's inability to lead stands in stark contrast to the leadership you have shown here over the last year. There is a tendency for us all to conceive leadership as being something that those "above" us exercise. The opportunity to exercise leadership presents itself to every one of us every day of our lives.

As you build a constituency here on this campus, your leadership will activate change in the wider country. As you carry your fellow students' hopes and aspirations, you are contributing to a movement which will - sooner than you realise - sweep this government away.

This is why I ask you all to give your support to Yanga Sibelekwana and deliver DASO a second famous victory at this year's SRC elections.

Viva, DASO, viva!

Issued by the DA, September 17 2012

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