Zuma is his own worst enemy

The extent of the massive damage being visited upon our democracy on a daily basis under the current leadership is immeasurable.

It is happening in full view of and with the consent of those mandated to lead this country towards sustainable inclusive development.

The ANC seems to have been completely incapacitated. How else can you interpret the response to the latest ill-conceived, short-sighted and hopeless campaign being waged by one Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma to save his own bacon?

And all of this at such devastating expense to the country.

At his latest public appearances in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga some of his babbling was so incoherent that the man frankly, sounded a bit unstable.

“At least I know who are and what they are doing. I am not worried. If I was crazy, I would make the whole of South Africa crazy as well,” Zuma was reported saying at the weekend.

So Zuma apparently thinks he has enemies who are responsible for all his political and legal woes?

One has to ask, has it ever occurred to the president that he is, in fact, his own worst and greatest enemy. And that as such, he is the enemy of everyone he holds dear.

In the same way, he is also the enemy of the ANC, even though he swears to love it more than anything, including the country.

And even if there was genuine love for the country, which is very doubtful indeed, he would still be its enemy by virtue of his being his own enemy.

The proof of him being his own No 1 enemy is there for all to see in the public record. The man has never been kind to himself. He has sabotaged himself at every self-created opportunity.

He has constantly had to be propped up by “friends”, “comrades” and the “mighty” ANC for decades. If it was not the Shaiks paying his way, it was the Guptas. Yet all the while his primary benefactor has actually been the ANC.

Without the power of the ANC Zuma would likely never have gained prominence, let alone become president of our country for two terms.

At least he does seem to understand that without the ANC he would never have had it so good. Even in his unprepared rants, he mentions the ANC often.

It’s a puzzle therefore that he does not seem to understand that he is a great liability, if not the greatest liability, to the very same ANC he professes to love.

The remark about how he would – if crazy – also make the whole of South Africa crazy was also actually quite unnerving.

It suggested that he thinks he has such an overwhelming influence over the nation that any bizarre psychosis would, should he … eh, indeed be in such a troubled state, automatically transfer to the rest of the good people with this country

The narcissism is overwhelming. Along with the absence of consideration for the well-being of the people. Does the president honestly believe his experiences are sufficiently significant to be experienced by the whole nation?

What on earth would provoke such utterances? Who said the president was crazy? Is he?

Perhaps the president should rather have said: “If I was corrupt, I would make the whole of South Africa corrupt as well.”

At least then we could easily have answered, “You have sir, you have!”

Equally disconcerting were the ... eh, “comments” in Pietermaritzburg.

“It’s like those who steal today – they say Zuma steals while they are the worst thieves. They have investigated me all over but they are finding nothing because I’m not doing anything… If they have found it, it would be over .

“Those are the thieves and I know they are stealing. I’m just watching them. I know them.”

Hard to get one’s head around that I know, especially as the “State of Capture” report lies open on the nation’s table – on top of the Nkandla findings.

But if rational thought was evidence in that babble it means the president was lying deliberately. That, of course, would not be the first time. But perhaps more worrying than the brazen attempt to deceive was the threat implicit in his statement – “I’m just watching them. I know them.”

That of course, begs the question as to why the president of our country would not call in the police to deal with those, who he knows are thieves? All of this leaves me for one, at the very least, extremely confused.