15 Jul 2008

Speaking your mind…….

I have never been a big fan of politics. I just feel that life is way too short for all the bureaucracy that goes hand in hand with politics. But since I have been in South Africa I have been some what entertained by South African politics. Well the politicians have been keeping me entertained.

Some time back I blogged on Deputy Security Minister Susan Shabangu, who said police "must kill the bastards [criminals] if they threaten you" (click here to see the full blog) She was speaking her mind and I commend her and respect her doing so. Yes she got a lot of flack for saying what is on the minds of many South African’s.

Then recently the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) President Julius Malema has vowed that the youth of South Africa would die in supporting ANC President Jacob Zuma. Julius Malema actually said he would “Kill for Zuma” again taken very much out of context. In this day and age in South Africa you can’t go around saying you will kill for any one or any thing. It’s just not done. People get nervous. Julius Malema was just trying to emphasize his commitment to the cause, the cause being to get Jacob Zuma into power to be SA’s next President. He was miss quoted, a young politician who was just a bit over zealous. Maybe or maybe not I am not one to judge on this one. You can read more about this here


(Click on image for full size)

But South African political figures are not the only ones to fall pray to being miss-quoted. Hillary Clinton said she arrived in Bosnia in 1996 under sniper fire, directly contradicting Her own book's account of the incident. ( there is loads of sites about this issue – click here to see a google search result) Hillary apologized and said she had “Miss-spoken” about the events.

It happens and we have all done it at sometime in our life. It just takes a bigger person to put there hand up and admit that they are in the wrong. I have a lot of respect for people in the public eye who can do something wrong and stand up and say “Yip I did say that and I am sorry” Or not say sorry and stand by there word. That’s the African way. “Yes I said it and I am proud to have said it!” Both ANC Youth League (ANCYL) President Julius Malema and Deputy Security Minister Susan Shabangu have spoken out about what they have said but they did not apologise for what they said. It was more a case of they meant what they said but just not in the way it was meant to be interpreted. I guess I could have called this blog entry “Lost in Translation”

No comments: