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Blackmailing the nation
by
2008-09-08 08:59
Rivaan Roopnarain, News24 User
If ever there was any doubt, it has now all but evaporated...
It has become increasingly clear what the "fans" - and I use term loosely - of ANC President Jacob Zuma are attempting to do, and the more one realises it, the more frightening it becomes.
Last Friday, several hundreds of protestors gathered, not for the first time, outside various Durban courts, picketing, chanting slogans and demonstrating hooliganism, as they do, to show support and solidarity for the ANC President.
Off course, one can't help but admire the sheer blindness with which Jacob Zuma attracts support.
Who could forget that when Zuma faced charges in court for rape allegations, these very supporters openly declared "Burn the Bitch".
What would you do?
Several worrying considerations emerge from the sustained and systematic display of senseless behaviour by individuals who have now made it quite clear that they are more than wilfully prepared to not only "go to prison for Zuma", but to "kill and die for Zuma" as well.
It is needless to say that a fairly significant number of these protestors probably have no idea as to precisely why it is that they're prepared to go to such lengths for the man, yet they are quite ready to do so nevertheless. Mob mentality, you see, has such appeal to those who lack a certain measure of common sense.
This situation is even more concerning when one suggests it is as if the supporters of Jacob Zuma are blackmailing the country, by saying that they will continue to disrupt the nation, continue to make dangerous threats and continue to behave in such anarchic fashion until such time that the country realises that pursuing the prosecution of Jacob Zuma comes at a cost too damaging and too disruptive to civil society.
The goal that supporters are unswerving in their belief of attaining, thus, could very well go something like: "As long you persist with pursuing the criminal prosecution of our leader, we will persist to threaten anarchy, and eventually, bring the nation to such anarchy."
Test it in court
What is terribly confusing, then, becomes rather quite simple: If there are allegations against any person, and such a person is adamant of their innocence, then why not let the allegations be freely tested in a court of law? Why are these same supporters going to such extremes at every instance an allegation is levelled against Jacob Zuma, to have the allegations squashed and not tested in court?
The behaviour of these supporters to so candidly and blatantly advertise for justice to be subverted can be described by no word other than anarchy. By failing to reign in these wild anarchists and loudly dismiss their lurid messages, Jacob Zuma, by implication, becomes a tacit anarchist.
It is duly commendable that up to this point the judiciary and prosecution have appeared un-phased by the malicious behaviour of these ruthless supporters, and for the sake of our nation, we can only hope that they remain firmly rooted in the notion that the law must, under any circumstances, be respected and must run its course.
Is this one man, with an already potent perception of being corruptible, really going to ride on the crest of a wave of violence, bloodshed and idiocy to the highest office in the land, bringing the country to its knees in his wake?
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