The+people+have+spoken+on+Msholozi,+Cameron+Duodu,+City+Press



=The people have spoken on Msholozi=


 * Cameron Duodu, City Press, 23 December 2007**

Oh! People can be so inconvenient! There you are, consummate statesman cleverly managing the complex affairs of state and, buoyed by intelligence ­reports, you are earning plaudits at home and abroad.

People wave enthusiastically, even when your motorcade blows dust on them as you drive past.

Then, suddenly, POP!

Your admirers jab a needle into your balloon.

In modern history, Britain’s Winston Churchill is perhaps the best example of a ­statesman who was brought down to earth by his own after loftily bestriding the earth like a colossus during the Second World War.

Churchill could do no wrong during the war.

His compatriots throughout the British empire listened to his broadcasts with religious fervour.

Then the war ended and, within weeks, there was a general election.

Churchill’s Conservative Party was defeated by the Labour Party led by Clement ­Attlee.

Attlee was so “insignificant” in appearance and ­demeanour that Churchill described him as “a sheep in sheep’s clothing”.

In another instance, Churchill said: “An empty taxi arrived at 10 Downing Street and Mr Attlee got out of it.”

Who would have blamed President Thabo Mbeki if in the months preceding the ANC Polokwane conference he miscast Jacob Zuma as a has-been?

Mbeki sacked the “popular” Zuma as deputy president and got away with it?

Zuma tore his image to shreds during the rape trial saying he thought he wouldn’t be infected with HIV if he had a shower after having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman?

Zuma’s associate had been convicted for corruption, even if Zuma got off on a similar charge?

The media played its part in destroying Zuma’s image by repeating the Directorate of Special Operation’s statement just before the Polokwane election that Zuma might yet again face corruption charges?

Zuma’s goose was cooked – or so it seemed.

But then came the ANC conference and the delegates – elected by the party’s rank and file – showed the world they could make up their own minds, damn the propaganda and damn any blandishments proffered by the incumbent presidency.

Has the ANC gone mad then?

No, it has just woken up.

The ANC, unlike its counterparts elsewhere in Africa, is a democratic party.

The ANC was formed to end the practice whereby water-pipes passed through villages carrying water to irrigate white farms nearby while the villagers themselves drew ­water from wells and boreholes.

The ANC wasn’t formed to condone the use of state resources to generate electricity and provide it only for those who can afford it.

Special economic advantages had supplied the wealthy with the purchasing power to pay the rate demanded for electricity or telecommunication services.

The ANC members have many aspirations and want the ANC leaders to urgently respond to all their legitimate demands.

The people who voted the ANC into power in 1994 wanted an eloquent way of conveying a simple message to the ANC leadership: “Hey guys, we sent you there!”

The people have chosen to do this by electing Zuma.

Whether Zuma is a flawed messenger or whether he will be able to fulfil their expectations is not the issue. He is only a symbol.

The people have spoken. Those that have ears to hear, let them hear.


 * Duodu is the former editor of the Ghana edition of Drum. He is a novelist and playwright and lives in London.


 * From: http://www.news24.com/City_Press/Columnists/0,,186-1695_2242648,00.html**

569 words