Back in December 2007, when Zuma swept through like a wave and won the bitter electoral battle for ANC supremacy at Polekwani, this was considered at that time by political commentators and academics alike as the “Zuma Tzunami”.

In April 2009 at a meeting at UCT, Julius Malema was quoted as saying “Jacob Zuma is unstoppable. Zuma is a biological tsunami.”

In the run up to the South African Presidential elections, Zuma made promises to everybody from foreign investors to millions of poor blacks living in shanty towns in his quest for votes & popularity.

South Africa is now in the grip of its first recession for 20 years and the people in the townships are complaining that after 15 years of ANC rule they still don’t have basic housing, electricity or water.

The “Zuma Tzunami” wave may still come back to drown him. Zapiro’s cartoon of the 23rd July 2009 in The Times illustrates this graphically.

For more Zapiro cartoons visit http://www.zapiro.com

This week saw the official hand over of responsibilities for fighting political corruption in South Africa from the “old” Scorpions to the “new” Hawks. Will the Hawks succeed where the Scorpions failed? What is the difference between the two organisations?

“The Scorpions” was an elite anti-corruption squad falling under the prosecuting authority, not the police - set up by Thabo Mbeki when he came to power in 1999 to tackle organized crime, corruption and complex commercial cases. However it soon got the reputation of being a tool that Mbeki could use against his political opponents in an environment of conspiracy theories. Namely the Scorpions played an important role in the National Prosecuting Authorty’ s case against Jacob Zuma and when the pendulum swung at the Polokwane in December 2006, it was only a matter of time that the Scorpions would be disbanded by the new powers to be.

Initially called Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (DPCI) nicked named DIPSI in Zapiro’s cartoon of the 24th May 2009 in the Sunday Times

It has now been renamed “The Hawks” reporting to the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa who has appointed the relatively unknown former deputy provincial police commissioner in the Western Cape and former Robben Islander, Anwar Dramat as head of the unit of 800 former Scorpions investigators, police officers from the crime intelligence unit as well as officers from the South African Revenue Services’ fraud department. At the launch the Minister of Police is reported to having said “We’re not only launching a new directorate but we’re also witnessing the first flight of the Hawks. As the birds, the Hawks will have an eye for detail and be able to see from afar. We expect them to zoom in on illegal networks” resulting in Zapiro’s cartoon of the 9th July 2009 in The Times

So will the Hawks be watchdog or lapdog?

For more Zapiro cartoons, visit http://www.zapiro.com

We know who we are. Our ancestries are part of a delicate tapestry; interwoven, we find a touch of European flair, the spice and mystery of the East and the magic and beckoning of Africa. No matter where we, or our forbearers, have come from, we all have the privilege of calling ourselves ‘South African’.

We are so fortunate in that, we are exposed to so much diversity; nobody has to teach us tolerance and acceptance. We are steeped in environments where, over time, this thing that has to be learnt by others, is inherent in us.

A melting pot? No, not really. I prefer to think of us as a large, sweet-smelling garden – all of us are flowers: colourful, different, some living in the shade, others providing it … a multitude, a variety … That’s what South Africa is …

However, in some other countries, homogeneity is the order of the day. Korea is one such country. Everyone, aside from looking similar (which is probably one of the reasons they call themselves the ‘family society’), shares a similar cultural background, similar food preparation techniques, as well as taste. Most teenage girls have their hair cut in the same ‘mushroom-bob’ style and don the same sneakers (some may argue that this trend of conformity is rife amongst all teenage girls everywhere, but, I think, this phenomenon is especially disturbing amongst girls who look so identical, they could be mistaken for clones).

Koreans are so homogeneous that when people who look different visit their country (whether they are darker, taller, fuller-figured, or simply speak a different language), they are awestruck. They point, their jaws drop to the floor, they stare and stage-whisper ‘Buyeyo?’ (What is that?). As an African living and travelling there, I was often treated as though I was dirty, inferior, primitive or not as ‘evolved’ as they were. There was even an incident in which young children imitated monkeys as I passed by; that was a particularly bitter pill to swallow.

As South Africans, we know it is impossible to garner exactly who a person is (stereotypes aside) by looking at their skin colour or examining their hair textures. All prejudice is rooted in ignorance; people don’t know any better, they make assumptions and are scared of losing their culture. But do these flaccid excuses hold water in 2009, almost a decade into the 21st Century?

Apathy. This is a word associated with a ‘don’t-care’ outlook, an attitude of simply not caring about what is happening around one, disinterest, disengagement (or an apparent ‘checking out’) from society and a refusal to try and change what has gone wrong; sometimes, it’s the ignoring of a problem, burying one’s head in the sand, so to speak.

Picture a world in which every person you knew, regardless of their race, culture, religion, sexual orientation and gender fitted this description. Now, picture a world in which this trend was passed from one generation to the next. Seems bleak, doesn’t it? Tragically, this is exactly what is happening right now, at this very moment …

I am struck particularly by the apathy of young people; however, what’s worse is the apathy invading all generations. It seems that apathetic parents give rise to apathetic children. Today’s youngsters lack focus, motivation, determination and drive. A broad generalisation? Take a look at the calibre of today’s public school education graduates; aside from a handful who excel (despite being subjected to a painfully inept education system and syllabus), the vast majority pass by the skin of their teeth (or not at all).

Today, in general, young people have done the unthinkable; they are taking the freedoms our predecessors fought for and, ultimately, died for, for granted. It becomes glaringly obvious when one looks at most South African schools, from the appalling conditions of the classrooms (defaced desks, broken windows, stripped linoleum, and so forth) to the blatant disrespect for teachers.

I am the elder part of this same generation, yet even I am confounded by this dire and terrible shift. Teenagers of colour who lived during the 1950s and 1960s would have given anything to be afforded the opportunities scoffed at by today’s youth.

We live in exciting times; with enough diligence, the sky’s the limit as to what can be achieved. To echo the words of President Barack Obama, ‘where there’s breath, there’s hope’ – it is up to us as the younger generation to find it within ourselves.

When the age of democracy in South Africa began almost fifteen years ago, people were sceptical … They were scornful, cynical … They scoffed, but here we are, very much still standing. We’ve attained such great heights; this apathy is but a stumbling block to us flying even higher. Can it be defeated? Can we prove our critics wrong, yet again? The power lies with those, who are not even aware that they have it …

Our country stands out as a pinnacle of success and hope against a turbulent backdrop of corruption and violence that is the rest of Africa. As stated in a recent column by Mac Maharaj in the Sunday Times (dated June 7th, 2009) , “ [o]ur transition from white minority rule to democracy in 1994 has been hailed as the most successful power-sharing deal in Africa”. This alone, surely, has garnered us respect on a world-stage, and with regard to our African peers. With respect comes power, power to evoke change, to speak and be listened to …

South Africa has taken a stronger stance on Myanmar, asserting that Myanmar must make noticeable changes to the way in which the country is governed, with regard to their lack of basic freedoms, quashing and muzzling of political opponents and their blatant disregard of human rights.

I have a simple question: is the sudden change in attitude displayed by the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, with regard to Myanmar, promising and should we expect more interventions of this nature from them or is this step, this crawl, that they have taken merely a prelude to an imminent fall?

In my opinion, these baby-steps are too little, far too late. Why couldn’t we have made a stand like this earlier when the opportunity presented itself right on our collective doorstep? As a result of former President Thabo Mbeki’s policy of ‘quiet diplomacy’, we have blood on our hands – the blood of a nation. South Africa not only had the means, but the power, to intervene in Zimbabwe, before things spiralled so appallingly out of control – where was this apparent show of empathy and compassion when white farmers were forcibly evicted from land they had called home for generations? Where was this concern when Mugabe’s ZANU-PF attempted to kill off supporters of the opposition by threatening them with violence, imprisonment and even starvation?

The current situation in Zimbabwe, the power-sharing between the MDC and the ZANU-PF is tumultuous and rocky, to say the least – this is not necessarily because the system of power-sharing is completely flawed (for example, South Africa has blossomed in its wake). Indeed, power-sharing has become somewhat of a “knee-jerk solution” (as echoed by Mac Maharaj, in the same article); the reason for this can be attributed to the fact that it looks so good on paper – the former ruling party does not get shut out, while the voice of the opposition can also be heard. However, a system like this one, is like a knife; when given to a surgeon or murderer, each will use it differently (as we have seen countless times in the past).

Coming back, is what South Africa has done enough of a step in the right direction? Indeed, can what our Department of International Relations and Co-operation has done even be classified as a step? Aung San Suu Kyi has been muzzled for almost two decades in Myanmar; is this recent development even a stagger?

The recent spate of striking has left most people, especially those who require doctors the most, divided on the issue. People understand that doctors work in unhygienic, cramped conditions; work without substantial-enough pay and examine patients without basic equipment (gloves, towels, etc.), and yet they are angry that doctors have been striking for weeks. Is it fair to ask these brave doctors to endanger their lives everyday?

I think we all need a shot of empathy, change in perspective – a proverbial shoe-exchanging. Would these people, who are so critical of our medical staff, be able to work in nurseries (in which the air-conditioning isn’t functioning) for over forty hours, without a break, and without access to a shower? How about examining and treating HIV- and AIDS-infected patients without syringes, surgical masks and gloves?

I think not.

The government has offered a 2 – 26 percent increase, as opposed to the 50 percent requested by the striking medical personnel. This offer is an insult; doctors provide a service that is sorely needed, especially in a country like ours where violence-related injuries are a daily occurrence, and where our HIV-infection rate is scraping the ceiling; no wonder they are seeking greener pastures overseas. It’s sad that we only appreciate their services now that they are not providing them.

Sadly, this sentiment of appreciation and compassion (as I’ve pointed out) is not shared, and is even resisted, by our government. They even had the audacity to fire the people who have refused to go back to work! Talk about adding fuel to the fire, already raging out of control …

It is stark and unfortunate that those who have done nothing wrong, the patients (the elderly, the terminally ill, and so forth especially), have to suffer because of their belligerence.

It is yet to be seen how this will play out: doctors are now caught between what they swore to do when they took the Hippocratic Oath, and putting their own lives in peril – the proverbial battle between Life and Death rages on …

We all thought that the “PdV” acronym stood for Peter de Villiers, South Africans current rugby coach. Since last week-end, PdV has a new significance - Public defender for Villains (on the rugby field). Schalk Burger normally a magnificent tough but fair rugby player let the South African rugby fans down by his behavior on the field and has made the series victory over the B&I Lions a little hollow but what made it worse was the blind defence from Peter de Villiers over the incident and the way he went about it after the match. While most observers, including Springbok supporters were shocked at the incident, PdV reacted differently - “I don’t believe it was a card at all,” De Villiers said after the Springboks’ series clinching but extremely narrow victory. What would have happened if Schalk had been handed a red card and the Springboks had to play with 14 men for 79 minutes? Would the result have been the same?

Zapiro’s cartoon of the 2nd July 2009 in the Times says it all

For more Zapiro cartoons visit http://www.zapiro.com