I am of two minds when it comes to the #ZumaMustFall campaign.
On the one hand I wholeheartedly agree that President Jacob Zuma is doing irrevocable harm to South Africa, even before his toying with the Finance Ministry last week. But on the other hand I feel that a group of (let’s be honest) predominantly white people meeting in the Company’s Gardens and holding up placards has little to no impact on the current situation.
If anything, it only serves to give the racists living amongst us more fuel for their vitriolic fires, with terms like ‘white privilege’ and ‘apartheid kickbacks’ thrown about willy-nilly. Just take a look at the #ZumaMustFall on Twitter and you’ll see some pretty awful stuff (from both sides).
My feelings aside, thousands of people still turned up in Cape Town (and across the country) for #ZumaMustFall marches this Day of Reconciliation. The President will probably laugh off the protests, as he does so often these days, but looking at the emotion on the faces of the protesters it’s hard to deny that people want him gone.
If you truly want change though, I’d recommend you put the placards down and pick up your pen. Because 2016 is a local government election year, and no amount of hashtags are going to help us if we don’t all put a big X next to a non-Zuma-related name on the ballot sheet and hit him where it really hurts.
Photography courtesy Justin Sullivan
