An open letter to Zuma and his cabinet

We are your battered wife. We are your abused children.

We’ve swallowed your lies and given you the benefit of the doubt time and time again. We’ve given you chance after chance to redeem yourself and show us that you can be worthy of your presidential position as head of this country.

But we’ve grown up now, and we see you and your cabinet for the thieves, liars, pocket-lining yes-men and women that they are.

And we are so very tired of it.

You are not a man we can trust.

You are a man that has let us down – repeatedly.

In 1994, I voted for the ANC and all that it then stood for. It was a party that had earned its stripes. It was a party headed by men of vision, strength of character, moral integrity and a real love and desire for this beautiful South Africa and its people. Mr. President, you and your cabinet are not men of vision. You’re not honest men. And you’re not men of integrity.

You and your cabinet are the self-entitled children of parents that worked hard and sacrificed. You, Mr. Zuma, have not earned your position.

Your ANC is nothing that resembles what I voted for and once believed in.

It angers me when in every speech, you hark back to the golden days of Mandela’s ANC. Because that’s exactly what it was. Mandela’s ANC. Mandela’s vision. Mandela’s love. Mandela’s honesty. You are not Mandela. Your ANC that exists today is not worthy of the legacy left to it. You and your ANC have sold our country to the highest bidder.

I do not believe that you care about South Africa or its people at all. You have raped its resources and ruined our reputation.

As a direct result of your actions, our currency has plummeted. Please, don’t blame others. You are the head of this country. The buck stops with you.

Disinvestment is a result of your actions. Please, don’t deny it and don’t shift the blame. You are the head of this country. The buck stops with you.

Nkandla, your lavish palace, was built using taxpayer’s money. It was built using my money that I gave to you to build safer roads, improve our hospitals, educate our children. Instead, it was used and abused to make you more comfortable. As such, my money was stolen. Please, don’t insult me by blaming the contractors, or the lawyers. You are the head of this country. The buck stops with you.

There are so many instances where you have lied, stolen, behaved badly, cheated and shown us just how corrupt you and your cabinet are: Guptagate; your rape scandal; the continual, absolute disregard for our constitution; the disbanding of the Scorpions that were investigating your wrongdoings. You have blatantly abused the system that you were entrusted with for your own benefit – time and time again. Year in and year out.

I do not believe you care. I believe that you truly think that you can get away with anything. Because that is the pattern that we have allowed and tolerated.

Had you admitted your wrongdoings and resigned. You might’ve saved your party. The fools in this scenario are all the men and women in your cabinet who have backed and stood loyally by you for fear of losing their own comfortable positions. Because now, we don’t trust the ANC at all either.

Ordinary South Africans who supported the ANC are tired of believing the lies.

We want change. We demand it.

And it is coming.

We are a dissatisfied nation of dissatisfied countrymen. I smell a mutiny. We know you as a coward and a sellout. If I were you, I would jump ship and leave your loyal followers to the sharks.

I am an ordinary South African that recognises that you are unfit to lead.

I demand your resignation.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Lindridge
User of the hashtag – #ZumaMustFallNOW