Jacob Zuma: Barbarian Extraordinaire

Will Heaven over at the The Daily Telegraph penned a great article regarding Jacob Zuma, the current president of South Africa. The article speaks truth-to-power about what a putrid schmuck Zuma is on all levels. At his very best, Zuma is ignorant firebrand who was active in the ANC's militant struggle to usurp apartheid. At his worst he is a retrogressive, rapist, thug, and hard-line left-wing nut-job who can't even claim to have finished high school. South Africa is in the very best of hands. Beyond being a decent political manipulator, he has shown no aptitude for anything noteworthy. The werewolf was in South Africa when the oh-so classy Zuma was on trial for raping the HIV positive lady, and having claimed that his post-rape shower negated his chances of contracting the virus. What a guy. (If it wasn't so real, it'd actually be amusing) The werewolf gave a little paw-pump when he thought Zuma had been effectively sidelined. Alas, it was premature. Here are some highlights from Mr. Heaven's article:

"Well, as Graham Boynton writes in today’s Telegraph, Zuma’s has faced a host of criminal charges during his career in the ANC: fraud, racketeering, corruption, and tax evasion to name but a few. He has so far escaped conviction, but in one of the most revealing episodes of his career so far, he was accused of raping an HIV-positive family friend in 2006.

Zuma, as has so often been the case, was acquitted. But during the trial he infamously admitted to having “showered” after unprotected sex with the woman because this “would minimise the risk of contracting the disease.” He knew the woman was HIV positive, but told the court that while he normally used condoms, he did not have one available on the night of the incident. As one Aids campaigner said at the time, “statements like that can throw years of hard work down the drain.”

A year before his rape trial, Jacob Zuma was head of the National Aids Council and South Africa’s Moral Regeneration Campaign. Is it surprising, then, that with a brute like this in charge, some six million South Africans are infected with HIV/Aids today? Zuma has even invoked traditional African culture as an excuse for not using condoms. A ludicrous idea on the face of it, but when you consider that an estimated 800,000 South Africans died of Aids in 2008, the true horror of Zuma’s influence begins to hit home." 


Zuma is a shining example of one of Africa's largest hurdles to prosperity and decency. The lack of a stable and respectable ruling class. As long as African democracy, autocracy, and governments elevate brutal thugs who ride the cresting waves of anti-western drivel, celebrate ignorance, and promote discredited economic management, Africa will stumble around like a blind drunk at an open bar, continuously being unable to be taken seriously. That in turn will retard efforts to address the public health, economic development, and global integration concerns that plague Africa. At this point, it is up to Africans to help themselves. Yet, with titanic buffoons like Zuma representing the best of African democracy, Africa will be riding the global short-bus for many moons to come.