R2K statement on the resignation of Jacob Zuma
The Right2Know Campaign sheds no tears for the end to the Zuma presidency.
We will remember him for the Secrecy Bill, Marikana and for his corruption.
Zuma will be remembered for the Secrecy Bill, which was at one time his hallmark legislative effort. This Secrecy Bill would have been used to cover up the secret dealings of government institutions, and criminalise the work of journalists, whistleblowers and activists who tried to bring information to the public. So great was the threat that it prompted the forming of a people’s campaign, the Right2Know Campaign. As a result of tireless efforts of people from every corner of our country, the Secrecy Bill was effectively stopped: it has sat on Zuma’s desk for over four years unsigned.
Zuma will be remembered for Marikana. We will never forget that the police gunned down people on live television; They committed murders and cover-ups all in the protection of mining capital. To this date not a single person has been arrested for these murders, except for the miners themselves. If Zuma had a shred of decency he would have resigned that very day. But instead he hung onto power for as long as possible, appointing a Commission of Inquiry to play for time while he protected his allies and himself. Jacob Zuma’s government committed murder and has never faced the consequences.
Zuma will be remembered for selling out the people of South Africa in a series of secret and corrupt deals – not only those labelled ‘state capture’, but also his deals with European corporations as part of the Arms Deal, and his relentless pursuit of a secret Nuclear Deal with Russia.
Right2Know sheds no tears for the end to the Zuma presidency. But we do shed tears of anger for the injustices that were done while his Presidency lasted.
Start to finish, Zuma’s presidency has been a sustained attack on openness, transparency and the free flow of information. His legacy is a decline in the quality of democracy for ordinary people, and a ramp-up in secrecy, securitisation of the state, persecution of whistleblowers and abuses of power.
And yet the people of South Africa have shown that they are willing to stand up to such abuses. In response to the Secrecy Bill, we saw the formation of the Right2Know Campaign. In response to the Marikana Massacre, we saw the Marikana Support Campaign.
We do not delude ourselves that South Africa will be ‘rescued’ by the leaders who will replace Zuma. Many of them were henchman in the same scandals as the man they are now evicting from the Union Buildings. Nor will it be rescued by the opposition parties.
If South Africa is to be rescued, it will be by the people of South Africa, working street by street to fight for a better life for themselves and a more democratic and just society for all. There is much work to be done!
