Clever Blacks, Jesus and Nkandla, by Gareth van Onselen
Clever Blacks, Jesus and Nkandla: The real Jacob Zuma in his own words, by Gareth van Onselen. Jonathan Ball Publishers. Johannesburg; ISBN 9781868426188 / ISBN 978-1-86842-618-8
Many controversies Jacob Zuma has stirred in South African politics over the past decade, are the subject of Gareth van Onselen's book, Clever Blacks, Jesus and Nkandla.
[...] These, some of the many controversies Jacob Zuma has stirred in South African politics over the past decade, are the subject of this book. Each quote speaks to a controversial position held by Zuma, whether an initial remark or a further illustration of a theme. The book is about the real Jacob Zuma because, it argues, these controversial statements - far more so than the formal words that define his official duties as president - reveal the primary impulses that underpin his private convictions. What are those convictions? Zuma is a traditionalist, powerfully influenced by a set of cultural values that often run contrary to the Bill of Rights and the constitutional principles that underpin it. He is a patriarch, who describes women as subservient to men, there to be wives and mothers. He sees himself as a father figure, a chief, with respect and deference due to him in equal measure and patronage his to reward and withdraw. Those in his favour often act with impunity as a result. He is a bigot, dismissive of homosexuality, which he believes violates God's law. He is a demagogue who plays different tunes to different audiences and who engenders the support of demagogues in return. His majoritarianism regularly clashes with the Constitution and many of its most central tenets, from the right to bail and the assumption of innocence before being proven guilty to individual liberties and rights. And his religiosity conflates church and state just as it elevates his party, the African National Congress, to divine status, beyond the reach of mortals and the free choice the Constitution grants them. Finally, he is a social conservative and a pragmatist who harbours an anti-democratic impulse about a number of issues. His convictions are all-important, being the private backdrop to a public persona. They influence his decisionmaking, define his responses to problems and illustrate an agenda he is often constrained, by virtue of his constitutional obligations, from fully indulging. Understanding them allows one to go some way towards appreciating the view from his balcony. Zuma is many other things, too. No doubt he has a number of virtues, but they have not come to define his public standing. Rather, it is his more controversial remarks that have left an indelible mark on South African public discourse. Indeed, his formal record is as bland and unremarkable as it is unexceptional. He will not be remembered as a visionary or philosopher king. Zuma believes that much of the resultant criticism is unwarranted; that the media, which he believes often acts as an opposition party against him, is responsible for exaggerating, misrepresenting, taking his comments out of context and focusing only on the negative. But Zuma's own words form the bulk of this book. You can judge for yourself whether, collectively, they paint the picture of a misunderstood president or a traditional demagogue out of sync with the demands of a modern democracy. His issue with the media is not entirely without justification. Often his words are twisted. Zuma has never used the term 'clever blacks', for example. What he said was that 'some Africans, who become too clever, take a position, they become the most eloquent in criticising themselves about their own traditions and everything'. Likewise, try as you might, you will find no direct quote in which Zuma says that having a pet dog is un-African. [...]
This is an excerpt from the book: Clever Blacks, Jesus and Nkandla, by Gareth van Onselen.
Title: Clever Blacks, Jesus and Nkandla
Subtitle:The real Jacob Zuma in his own words
Author: Gareth van Onselen
Genre: Politics
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Johannesburg; Cape Town 2014
ISBN 9781868426188 / ISBN 978-1-86842-618-8
Softcover, 13 x 20 cm, 184 Seiten, numerous colour photos
van Onselen, Gareth im Namibiana-Buchangebot
Clever Blacks, Jesus and Nkandla
Clever Blacks, Jesus and Nkandla is on the controversies Jacob Zuma has stirred in South African politics over the past decade.
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