Sisonke Msimang, The Daily Maverick
I have learned to
approach President Zuma’s speeches with low expectations. It’s a sort of
defence mechanism: if I steel myself for the blunders and the boredom, then he
might surprise me as he did during the February SONA where he had a good story
to tell in a pretty snazzy manner.
To be sure, if the
president used his speeches to lay out important national objectives, then his
tone and approach, the timbre of his voice and the pace of his speeches, would
matter far less. But I have come to believe that the president – and his
Cabinet – are not interested in punchy speeches that address strikes and
pocketbooks and the state of race relations. The abysmal speech yesterday is
simply the latest in a series of deeply (albeit blandly) flawed political
statements by this president and his cabinet about the nature and scope of our
nation’s problems.
