For the last few years, I’ve been reading about South Africa more and more and in that reading, I peruse the daily news articles and one constant within our media has always been the negative side of our government influence in our country, in particular, that of our President Zuma. For years, there have been countless articles about what he’s doing or how he’s acting from scandal to money issues. The latest issue really makes me feel so sick to my core, it’s unreal and saddening.
How can someone, elected by the people as a representative for the people, a voice for the people essentially pilfer and use R206 million to build himself and his family, a better home? How do you just take so much money from the country without a conscience and just going on a home-deco shopping spree without any valid justification? In which day and age did it become right and proper to take from your country, to take from the very people that elected you and to take from the people that work so hard, and blindly give to yourself?
We live in a beautiful country; one that is filled with life, colour and charisma. A honey pot of culture painted with a diverse history where so many people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds can live together. Sure our country sees its fair share of crime and negativity and beyond that, I still love this country and I am so proud to call it ‘my home’ but even though I feel so, I still feel upset and somewhat disgusted at our president’s behaviour and his lack of consideration towards those that need ‘it’ more…
By ‘it’, I mean the people affected by the raging fires over the last few weeks, the people still recovering from last year’s floods and rural devastation, the people who are homeless and without shelter, those who beg for food daily and the elderly who struggle because of poverty. There’s so much more that’s concerning but I ask myself, how could President Zuma, not consider these people? Is he really such a greedy person that he wouldn’t consider ‘the people’? I don’t care how much he gives back but there is no amount of justification he can give for using so much money on himself and then still look at South Africa and say, that he believes the country is financially stable enough for him to go on a splurge.
I believe that if you are elected or representing a group of people and in his case, a country, the country comes before personal gain. You first take care of those who can no longer fend for themselves before you start helping yourself but clearly, the President and I have different morals and beliefs.
I could go on for hours but I guess, I’m just saddened by the fact that I live in such a beautiful country but yet it is tainted by someone who couldn’t care any less about the people he is supposed to represent.
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