There are some things we now know which we did not know until recently.
We now know that the failure of such a lot of our infrastructure is not just the result of ineptitude and corruption, but also, in all probability, the effect of deliberate sabotage.
Which brings us to my first question: is there a faction in the ruling party, and among its supporters, that is actively trying to destroy South Africa as a developed and developing state?
If so, why?
Are they actually trying to turn back the clock, to return, so to speak, to this country as it existed before the arrival of the settlers?
Is that even possible? If so, how?
This question, I’m afraid, should be asked in tandem with another question, a question which, to be truthful, has bothered me for years.
It is: why is Jacob Zuma still so popular among large segments of our population?
Oh, I know, I know, the mainstream media is trying hard to downplay the effects of the Zuma faction. They are trying to do this, in part, because of expediency – one shouldn’t give too much publicity to this kind of madness – but also because they cannot really believe it could be true.
The fact that Jacob Zuma is, after all these years, still a free man is a terrible reflection of the present state of South Africa.
The fact that Jacob Zuma is, after all these years, still a free man is nothing short of an insult to the principles of accountability, and every idea of rightness and fairness in existence on this planet.
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Not only is Jacob Zuma still a free man, but he also seems to have the support of a sizeable part of the South African populace.
Not only does he have their support. He has commanded, and still commands, apparent blind allegiance and hero worship bordering on the fanatical.
In the eyes of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of my fellow South Africans, Jacob Zuma is some kind of a messiah. He has, inexplicably, become the symbol of brave resistance to some real or imagined oppression which only exists in the minds of his followers.
Indeed: Zuma is not the only person suffering from the delusion that he is being unfairly targeted by the powers that be.
That, perhaps, is the biggest mystery of all: the sheer number of people who sincerely believe, like Zuma himself, that he has never been a corrupt politician but is, instead, the victim of a corrupt political and legal system.
Which brings one to the point: these people who support Zuma and his ideas, are they enemies of the system? What if they do not merely want the legal system, and the educational system, and all the other trappings of so-called civilisation, to be reformed, to be made somehow “free of imperialist influences”, but annihilated altogether?
Zuma’s misdemeanours are well documented. Many high-standing members of the legal profession have pointed out, in great detail, his numerous missteps and transgressions of the law. Numerous journalists have investigated his secret dealings and more than one book has been published outlining every aspect of his career, every incident of entitlement, every nuance of corruption, every blatantly harmful policy decision of which he has been guilty.
Yet the countless fans of Jacob Zuma, as Zuma himself, are of a different opinion.
Not only do they see him as a victim. In their eyes, he is a nice guy, a person with leadership skills, with charisma, a man fit to be the leader of this country.
They do not see him as a common thief. They do not believe he should be in jail.
This would be a laughable situation were it not to be that, should Zuma go back to jail, there is little doubt that these vast numbers of his supporters will once again attempt to take to the streets to force anarchy on our country.
Why?
What hold does this man have on his thousands (and perhaps millions) of supporters?
Why do they not see him the way the majority (I hope) of South Africans see him?
Why are they prepared to drag our country into anarchy in defence of this one person?
What on Earth has he done to deserve such blind and unwavering support of the masses?
This is the rub. There is some kind of fault line here. For those of us who fail to understand the reasoning behind this collective madness, this is the paradox, this is the hidden spot of contention, this is perhaps one of the main reasons our country and our democracy are failing.
It is something we simply have to understand, never mind how impossible it seems.
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For if we fail to understand it, if we just continue to shake our heads and shrug it off as something so crazy that we will never be able to get to grips with it, we run the risk of missing an opportunity to try to fix the problem, to address the hidden message behind this madness.
Is it merely a black-white thing? Surely not. Though Zuma has many supporters among the black populace, there are also many, probably the majority, who do not support him and the ideas he stands for.
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Perhaps we have to ask ourselves the most difficult question of all: what does Jacob Zuma stand for?
What does he want?
What is his vision for South Africa?
Is it safe to assume that, whatever he wants, and however he sees this country, and whatever he stands for, is, in some enigmatic way, somehow a valid point of view, a perspective, if you can call it that, which is shared by his followers?
Surely these people, some of whom are prepared to defend Zuma even to the point of sacrificing their lives, are not simply loyal to him because they think he is a nice guy, or because of his so-called charisma, or whatever. Surely there must be more to it than that!
And, if there is indeed more to it than that, we have to assume that they agree with his ideas, and that they understand his thought processes.
Incredible as it is, Zuma’s thought processes obviously resonate with his followers.
These people are, in effect, members of a grouping of adherents to what we could call the gospel according to Zuma.
We could reject this gospel.
And perhaps we should.
But I have a feeling that, if we really want to fix this country, if we ever hope to establish some kind of consensus among all South Africans, if we want to find a way to make our democracy work, we need to try to understand the message of this gospel and find out why so many people believe in it.
Is it possible for those of us who oppose Zuma to understand his gospel? I’m not sure.
But, without a doubt, for as long as Zuma is still out of jail, and for as long as his supporters continue to yell his name in adulation, and for as long as we fail to engage with these people, understand their grievances and figure out a way of helping them to participate meaningfully in this debate instead of sowing anarchy and chaos, our country will remain a problem unsolved, an offence unforgiven, a crime unpunished, a riddle impossible to comprehend, and a festering wound for which healing remains forever out of reach. DM