Respect me, or else…
This spat between Helen Zille and the ANC is just getting totally ridiculous. Following on the moronic outpourings of bile from the ANC Youth League, the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans’ Association, in the form of chairman Kebby Maphatsoe, has stepped up to the stupid plate:
Just recently, she appointed half her sex boys into the Western Cape provincial cabinet to keep them close enough to satisfy her well-evolved wild whore libido.
Bear in mind that the original gripe with Auntie Helen was that she was somehow sexist in appointing an all-male cabinet. Oh – the stupid!
The main gripe now, however is that she doesn’t respect Zacob Zuma. ANC secgen Gwede Mantashe told John Robbie this morning that the organisation would regard Zille as the enemy until she affirms her repect for the president. And you can’t use the factual, legal evidence from his rape trial – because he apologised. WTF?
Shades of Nighteen Eighty-Four, hey? Not only must you obey Big Brother, you must love Big Brother. Oh yeah, and if you don’t love BB, you’re shipped off to the Ministry of Love, for a spot of torture. Or in Helen’s case:
The MKMVAs deputy secretary Ramatuku Maphutha said the association
would mobilise soldiers in the Western Cape to go to Zille’s office
sometime next week if she did not retract her statement.“They are always ready [the soldiers]. It’s either she [Zille]
vacates the office, or co-operates. We are prepared to sleep there if
need be until we get an impressive response,” said Ramatuku.
So what’s to respect? Personally I can’t see any reason to respect Jacob Zuma. Having unprotected intercourse with a young woman in his care who was known to be HIV positive while presumably having unprotected sex with his multiple wives and his (culturally allowed) other women, is bad enough. His homophobic and fasict social views would also wipe out any feelings of respect I might harbour. So too would the legally confirmed corrupt relationship with his convicted financial advisor. Not to mention his meddling in the Arms Deal investigation. Yes these things would do it for me.
But it’s his storming of the constitutional citadels that really makes him beneath contempt. That he allowed his legal team and henchmen to villify and threaten the courts and other institutions that stood in his way makes him a very dangerous bit of work. His blatant disrespect for the Constitution and its bodies that he has now sworn to protect should only engender feelings of alarm over his presidency. Certainly not respect.
But, so I’ve heard, Zille is disrespecting of the office of the presidency. Here we go again. Just like the Party conflates itself to the State, so Zuma the man has been conflated to the Office of the presidency. They are of course not the same thing.
Even then – does the office of the president, the constitutional office, deserve automatic respect? I’m inclined to say yes since I respect the Constitution as a bulwark against those who would strip me of my rights. As a test, would you accept a presidential award from Zuma?
But I don’t think it matters whether I or anyone else respects the office/constitution or not, but it certainly does matter when someone poses a danger to the constitution, Someone like, say, Zuma.
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