Kenny Kunene’s letter
to President Jacob Zuma.
Dear
President Jacob Zuma,
I'm
writing this because I've never been more disappointed with the ANC you lead. I
was once your fervent supporter, I attended some of those night vigils during
your trials, and, like many, I believed you would be the force for change the
youth and the poor desperately need in our country. Like many others, I donated
to your cause when I was called on, and allowed my facilities to be used for
ANC and Youth League meetings, sometimes for unusual meetings where your
political comeback was planned.
You
may wonder what qualifies me to make any kind of political comment. As everyone
knows, I'm just a socialite and a businessman, but it's also no secret I am a
hobbyhorse for politicians to ride whenever they want to criticise "crass
materialism" and the decay of morals. It's true, I like to spend, and I'm
not an angel, but unlike politicians I'm not spending taxpayers' money. My real
point is that, as a socialite and a businessman, I meet many people, including
politicians. When they speak to your face, Mr President, they tell you your
imperial clothes are very stylish. When they talk to me, and feel they are safe
from your army of spies, most of them admit that you, the emperor, have no
clothes.
The
Gupta issue alone should be the last straw for many South Africans. But the
extent of how much the Gupta family controls you, and by implication this
country, has not even begun to be understood. It's amazing how terrified most
people in the ANC are to speak about this reality, because they truly fear you.
Even if you're not in government, tenders are used to inspire fear among people
of influence. Thank God my livelihood is not dependent on tenders. I'll save
you the trouble of trying to find out if I have any tenders so you can cut me
out of them. I don't have any.
You
show no loyalty even to those who kept you out of prison. After the Shaiks and
Julius Malema, the Guptas must know that you can drop them faster than they
could drop your name. In your quest for self-preservation, you have become
heartless.
The
reason I supported you and your campaign is because you were marketed to us as
someone who would unify us and get rid of the politics of fear, but today
there's more fear and more division in the ANC than ever before. In public you
smile and laugh, but in truth you behave like a monster, a tyrant who will
target perceived enemies ruthlessly, and because of that fear few dare to speak
openly. We'd have had yet another Cabinet reshuffle if your wings had not been
clipped a little in Mangaung.
Of
course, I am not so naive as to blame everything regrettable that happens in
the ANC on you. But in my home province, the Free State, the premier, Ace
Magushule, imitates your behaviour and even seems to be trying to outdo you in
being entangled with the Guptas. He learnt it from you. He thinks its okay to
blow R40-million (or R140-million, others say) on a website. It's not a great
website either, by the way. When even your Kenny Kunenes start thinking a guy
is wasting money shamelessly, you should know how bad it is. Of course, we'd
all like to know where that money really went.
This
is not what the ANC is or should be. We thought it was bad enough with the
Shaiks - but who could have predicted your, and therefore our, wholesale
nationalisation by the Guptas?
Even
your immediate community, your neighbours in Nkandla, have to walk past your
ridiculously overpriced palace donated to you by a once-unsuspecting public,
knowing how you have your own private clinic they cannot use and their children
must play in the dusty streets among the stones, while your compound has an
astroturf sports field that cost the taxpayer R3.5-million and costs R100 000 a
month to maintain. How is fake grass a part of security upgrades?
Everyone
knows the Public Protector's report will find damning evidence of what went on
there - but something must be said now already, in case you find a way to shut
her up too.
It's
no wonder the ANC lost the vote in Nkandla. If the people who know you best,
the place you are from and where you occupy tribal land, do not trust you
enough to vote for you, why should the rest of us?
This
ANC is no longer the ANC of John Langa Dube, Oliver Tambo and other illustrious
names. I'm also getting tired of hearing about how the ANC is bigger than any
individual.
There
are those who are stubbornly loyal to the ANC, as if it's some kind of
marriage, who keep the faith that some day the party will return to its roots.
But even if they're my friends, I can't enthusiastically join in with the
declarations of those who say they will die in coffins wrapped in ANC colours,
no matter what, as my former business partner Gayton McKenzie once said to me.
Mr
President, I don't want to be one of those who tell you in fear that you have
clothes on, when it's obvious you are completely exposed. I know the dogs will
be set on me for saying this, but you have been naked for longer than most of
us were willing to admit. And you're now stripping the ANC of the last shred of
its integrity. The world laughs at us.
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