Trainspotter: #ZumaMustFall Take Two, this time for real

 

On the steps of the Constitutional Court, where only five days before a huddle of lawyers, politicians and journalists had celebrated a landmark piece of legal wizardry, there were drums. In front of the drums and the colourfully clad men beating them, behind hastily strung construction tape separating the informal stage from the crowd (because, you know, South Africa), sat a group of men and women bundled against the cold.


 They included ex-Cosatu Secretary-General Zwelinzima Vavi, ex-Minister for Intelligence Services Ronny Kasrils, former Constitutional Court judge Zak Yacoob, former ANC Deputy Secretary-General Cheryl Carolus, along with academics, artists, unionists, and a smörgåsbord of men in religious attire. 

 

Zuma will not listen to reason. He cannot be compelled to do the right thing. He is without compassion. He is only appetite.
Which means that niceness isn’t going to get him to go anywhere. Just ask Ronny Kasrils: when you’re dealing with the devil and war is declared, things need to get nasty, and fast. Rolling plans of “mobilisation, conversation and action” aren’t going to be enough – you cannot jaw Jacob Zuma into an Nkandla stay-cation. You want to take him down? Build a plan. Build consensus. Make sure that for the duration of your campaign, your natural enemies are your friends. Make sure your supporters aren’t chicken-shits. Organise.
And for the love of God, get a bad-ass moniker. “No-name brand” is not going to cut it in the coming war.

Freedom Day, said the reverend, will be upon us on April 27, and it shall be regarded as a “day of action”.
In other words, these luminaries have no idea what to do. Their name? “We are a no-name brand right now,” said Vavi. In a way, that’s just perfect: Vavi in particular has been in an extended dither since he was ushered out of Cosatu, although he assured us that he was about to meet with more than 34 unions “that love this country” in order to “establish an independent trade union movement”.

But the recent Constitutional Court ruling, combined with Zuma’s non-apology apology and the ANC’s endorsement thereof, was without question a fire-able offence. More specifically, it was a resign-able offence: if the dude had any class, he’d be drinking mojitos around a fire pool and we’d be in the heat of a snap election campaign. Which is another way of saying that, as activists, it’s pretty tough to screw this one up.
And so, under moody skies, a reverend read a statement entitled “Jacob Zuma Must Resign: A Civil Society Call to Action.” 

Source: dailymaverick