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MANY remarkable things have been said about the late former president of the ANC and the first president of the democratic South Africa, Nelson Mandela.
But the one thing that has always flummoxed me is the confidence and the ease with which Mandela – immediately after his release from Victor Verster prison - tackled all manner of questions posed by all sorts of journalists.
He did this from the first day he came out of Victor Verster, where very few news sources were made available to him for the three years he spent there.
At the ripe age of 72, when Mandela came out he used his deeply analytic mind to answer some of the tough and unexpected questions from hordes of reporters attending his press conferences. And he did this with great aplomb.
In one of his interviews with some of the world’s greatest television news networks, Mandela admitted that when he came out of prison he did not even know what a press conference was. But he was not intimidated by this gathering of crazy minds he did not even understand.
Why am I recounting all this now?
The reason is that the current president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, seems to have decided to ignore the media when the whole of South Africa is dying to hear what he has to say about all this controversy surrounding him.
Nasty things have been said about him. And these demand a response from him personally, and not statements from his office and advisers.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has accused Zuma of unduly benefiting from the construction of his R246m Nkandla private home.
This is a serious accusation which could have prompted people like former presidents Mandela and Thabo Mbeki to stand up and personally address this at a press conference, which has a way of calming down the blood-smelling journalists.
Barack Obama, the president of the most powerful and controversial country in the world, still calls press conferences to nip a rumour in the bud or address an accusation.
Problems afflicting Zuma currently will not go away soon as long as he continues to use statements and spokespersons to address these issues.
Statements always raise more questions than answers, and spokespersons are people who know what the media want and only give what is important.
At a press conference, Zuma would be forced to field unexpected questions and that is where the country would be able to see his honesty. I still do believe that he is not as bad as he is made out to be.
Many people steadfastly believe that he has not been truthful to South Africans so far. This is in view of the fact that he does not face the media any more.
Only this week, he released a statement about something important - his response to whether he would answer Madonsela’s report or not.
The report has made a number of damning allegations against him. Why not respond in person?
In a statement this week, Zuma made an undertaking that he would give parliament a "further report" on "decisive executive interventions" on his private Nkandla home.
He said he would do so after receiving a report from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) he had directed to investigate security upgrades at Nkandla.
"President Jacob Zuma has today, April 2 2014, submitted a response to the speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Max Sisulu, in relation to the report of the public protector on the security upgrades at his Nkandla residence," the presidency said in a statement.
It said three state agencies – the public protector, the justice, crime prevention and security cluster of cabinet and the SIU – had all been conducting their inquiries into the same matter.
If Mandela could handle press conference at 72 and after 27 years in prison without any contradiction, what really is preventing Zuma from doing so when he has nothing to hide as he claims?
Zuma should not feel insulted when South Africans call for his head because he does not want to come out in the clear and address all the doubts about him.
- Fin24
*Mzwandile Jacks is an independent journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.
But the one thing that has always flummoxed me is the confidence and the ease with which Mandela – immediately after his release from Victor Verster prison - tackled all manner of questions posed by all sorts of journalists.
He did this from the first day he came out of Victor Verster, where very few news sources were made available to him for the three years he spent there.
At the ripe age of 72, when Mandela came out he used his deeply analytic mind to answer some of the tough and unexpected questions from hordes of reporters attending his press conferences. And he did this with great aplomb.
In one of his interviews with some of the world’s greatest television news networks, Mandela admitted that when he came out of prison he did not even know what a press conference was. But he was not intimidated by this gathering of crazy minds he did not even understand.
Why am I recounting all this now?
The reason is that the current president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, seems to have decided to ignore the media when the whole of South Africa is dying to hear what he has to say about all this controversy surrounding him.
Nasty things have been said about him. And these demand a response from him personally, and not statements from his office and advisers.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has accused Zuma of unduly benefiting from the construction of his R246m Nkandla private home.
This is a serious accusation which could have prompted people like former presidents Mandela and Thabo Mbeki to stand up and personally address this at a press conference, which has a way of calming down the blood-smelling journalists.
Barack Obama, the president of the most powerful and controversial country in the world, still calls press conferences to nip a rumour in the bud or address an accusation.
Problems afflicting Zuma currently will not go away soon as long as he continues to use statements and spokespersons to address these issues.
Statements always raise more questions than answers, and spokespersons are people who know what the media want and only give what is important.
At a press conference, Zuma would be forced to field unexpected questions and that is where the country would be able to see his honesty. I still do believe that he is not as bad as he is made out to be.
Many people steadfastly believe that he has not been truthful to South Africans so far. This is in view of the fact that he does not face the media any more.
Only this week, he released a statement about something important - his response to whether he would answer Madonsela’s report or not.
The report has made a number of damning allegations against him. Why not respond in person?
In a statement this week, Zuma made an undertaking that he would give parliament a "further report" on "decisive executive interventions" on his private Nkandla home.
He said he would do so after receiving a report from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) he had directed to investigate security upgrades at Nkandla.
"President Jacob Zuma has today, April 2 2014, submitted a response to the speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Max Sisulu, in relation to the report of the public protector on the security upgrades at his Nkandla residence," the presidency said in a statement.
It said three state agencies – the public protector, the justice, crime prevention and security cluster of cabinet and the SIU – had all been conducting their inquiries into the same matter.
If Mandela could handle press conference at 72 and after 27 years in prison without any contradiction, what really is preventing Zuma from doing so when he has nothing to hide as he claims?
Zuma should not feel insulted when South Africans call for his head because he does not want to come out in the clear and address all the doubts about him.
- Fin24
*Mzwandile Jacks is an independent journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.
