Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

It’s now official: Zuma doesn’t understand democracy

Last week’s Questions to the President Parliamentary Plenary proved to be most revealing. The Democratic Alliance Parliamentary Leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko challenged President Zuma on the Marikana issue. Put simply, the industrial relations regime is skewed in favour of only big unions (who coincidently are in alliance with the ANC). Smaller unions like the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) are excluded from wage negotiations. Therefore this system ensures that the small politically connected elite are kept in the system and everyone else is kept out.

Zuma’s response demonstrated his true colours. The President said that in a democracy it is the majority that prevails. In the interim the Presidency released a statement denying that the President said this and that President Zuma’s statement was misconstrued by the DA.

So that I don’t get accused of misconstruing what the President said, I quote exactly what is recorded in the Hansard; -

“You can’t have a union of half a thousand people because you have declared it as the union then expect to have the same rights.  Sorry, we have more rights here because we are a majority.  You have fewer rights because you are a minority.  Absolutely, that’s how democracy works.  So, it is a question of accepting the rules within democracy and you must operate in them.”

So there you have it, directly from the horse’s mouth!  I was in the House and heard exactly the same thing.

Based on the President’s statements, the following can be concluded;-

1.    The President does not support or agree with the Constitution;

2.    The President supports a one party state provided it is the ANC that is in Government;

3.    Only those aligned with the ANC have more rights that anyone else;

4.    Some rights are worth more than others, in the same way that existed in various fascist states.

These conclusions are supported by Zuma’s historical demagogic attitude; he has previously argued that the ANC is more important than the constitution and that it exists only to “regulate matters”.

Clearly, our President doesn’t understand or cares for democracy or our Constitution. Each one of us has to therefore ensure that our democracy and Constitution is protected.

Yours Sincerely,

Manny de Freitas MP

Shadow Minister of Home Affairs

Member of Parliament for Johannesburg South

Democratic Alliance