Dear Zuma, white people haven’t made us angry this time. You have

The FeesMustFall movement culminated in a mass gathering of students and civil society – around 10 000 people – in front of the Union Buildings to hear Zuma speak.

Alas, as we’ve become accustomed to, Zuma was a no-show and instead chose to address the students from inside the Union Buildings, not only a sign of weakness, but fear most of all.

Sure, the fees have fallen, but the aftermath of the mass movement leaves South Africans with renewed hope and a reminder that our people are indeed powerful; and perhaps most important of all, South Africans have come together for the first time in many years, rekindling the spirit of greats like Sisulu, Hani, Slovo and of course Mandela.

One of the protesters present at the Union Buildings last week wrote a letter to Zuma, sharing his feelings and that of so many others with the public and, of course, the president-in-hiding.

Dear President Zuma

 

I was told you would address us at noon. Some of us were naïve enough to think that you would really come. We are always full of hope. But you didn’t come.

 

When a decision was made you wouldn’t even come and talk to us in person. Instead, you spoke from an air-conditioned room and told the media what us students had the right to hear. Did the media make the demands for fees to fall, or did the students?

 

I’m now convinced more than ever that you do not care about young people in this country. Did you learn nothing from 1976? Young people will not be mocked. Unlike our parents, we have nothing to lose.

 

We see you, Mr President. We see you make a mockery of the constitution. We see you squander the resources of this country. You forget that the young people you treat with contempt are the people who will vote next year and at the next general election. Many of them might join the Economic Freedom Fighters or the Democratic Alliance. Your party will continue to lose power not because there are better options, but because young voters (who will soon be the majority of voters) are fed up with the ANC. We don’t have to show loyalty to the party our parents voted for.

 

There’s a new generation coming and they are angrier than before. Unlike your generation, white people haven’t made them angry. You have.

 

The ANC has made them angry. You have discredited everything that was possible in 1994. Under your leadership a culture of corruption has found a place in South Africa’s government. The born-frees are tired of hearing about how great the ANC used to be. To them that’s as good as a myth, and myths mean nothing to people who are hoping for a better future.

 

It’s really a pity you didn’t address the students on Friday. The students gave you an opportunity to redeem yourself in their eyes. They gave you an opportunity to take yourself and your office seriously, but in true Zuma-style you turned it down.

 

It’s unfortunate too that you don’t take education seriously. You have let South Africans believe that you do not take education seriously because you are not educated. I would like to think that as someone who could not complete an education because you chose the struggle [against apartheid], you know better than anyone else the importance of education.

 

Do educated people threaten you? You could have chosen to create an education system that you can be proud of. Instead you became a cliché and built yourself a mansion.

 

You and the ANC are not invincible.

 

Kind regards,

 

Athambile Masola

This letter was originally published by the Guardian via the Mail&Guardian