PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma’s sudden and still unexplained decision to withdraw from a unique memorial service for the late Nelson Mandela at Westminster Abbey in London next Monday has not, sadly for him, gone unnoticed.
Madiba will be the first non-British citizen ever honoured in any way in the abbey — the cathedral next to the Houses of Parliament in central London.
Nearly 3,000 guests will be there at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth, the head of the Commonwealth.
She will not be there. Her grandson, Harry, will do the honours for Buckingham Palace. But she would have been, had Mr Zuma been able to accept the initial date for the service — February 11. As this clashed with his preparations for his state of the nation address on February 13, the British were asked to conduct the service at a later date.
Both sides agreed on Monday March 3. As recently as last Friday, a post-Cabinet statement confirmed Mr Zuma would be in London. Within days, that had changed and his deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, was attending instead.
The president’s "diary is always subject to change. This is a very, very busy period," said his spokesman, Mac Maharaj, an explanation so feeble we will, out of sheer pity, not hold him to it.
Clearly, something is up with Mr Zuma. He was ready to lead the South African delegation to Davos last month when he suddenly pulled out. He has missed a number of scheduled appointments on the campaign trail since calling a general election for May 7.
Is he not well? Or are his public appearances perhaps deliberately being limited, for fear of audiences considered unreliable?
Besides the Mandela memorial in London, meetings had been set up for him to talk to potential political party donors from the former anti-apartheid movement.
In all, it is a typically pathetic display. But all is not lost. Recently, when he bailed out of campaigning for a weekend to "rest", he was spotted at the birthday party of a rich friend in Durban. On Thursday night he addressed a function to "celebrate", as the state information service reported, "the return of the largest print media group in South Africa, to South African ownership".
Perhaps Mr Zuma lives in a parallel universe. Thursday night’s function was hosted by Independent News & Media South Africa. This is a company run, with public service pension funds, by a government crony capitalist, Iqbal Survé, and, as this week’s Audit Bureau of Circulation figures again show, is very much not the biggest print media group in South Africa.
But don’t tell the president.
President Jacob Zuma. Picture: MARTIN RHODES
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma’s sudden and still unexplained decision to withdraw from a unique memorial service for the late Nelson Mandela at Westminster Abbey in London next Monday has not, sadly for him, gone unnoticed.
Madiba will be the first non-British citizen ever honoured in any way in the abbey — the cathedral next to the Houses of Parliament in central London.
Nearly 3,000 guests will be there at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth, the head of the Commonwealth.
She will not be there. Her grandson, Harry, will do the honours for Buckingham Palace. But she would have been, had Mr Zuma been able to accept the initial date for the service — February 11. As this clashed with his preparations for his state of the nation address on February 13, the British were asked to conduct the service at a later date.
Both sides agreed on Monday March 3. As recently as last Friday, a post-Cabinet statement confirmed Mr Zuma would be in London. Within days, that had changed and his deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, was attending instead.
The president’s "diary is always subject to change. This is a very, very busy period," said his spokesman, Mac Maharaj, an explanation so feeble we will, out of sheer pity, not hold him to it.
Clearly, something is up with Mr Zuma. He was ready to lead the South African delegation to Davos last month when he suddenly pulled out. He has missed a number of scheduled appointments on the campaign trail since calling a general election for May 7.
Is he not well? Or are his public appearances perhaps deliberately being limited, for fear of audiences considered unreliable?
Besides the Mandela memorial in London, meetings had been set up for him to talk to potential political party donors from the former anti-apartheid movement.
In all, it is a typically pathetic display. But all is not lost. Recently, when he bailed out of campaigning for a weekend to "rest", he was spotted at the birthday party of a rich friend in Durban. On Thursday night he addressed a function to "celebrate", as the state information service reported, "the return of the largest print media group in South Africa, to South African ownership".
Perhaps Mr Zuma lives in a parallel universe. Thursday night’s function was hosted by Independent News & Media South Africa. This is a company run, with public service pension funds, by a government crony capitalist, Iqbal Survé, and, as this week’s Audit Bureau of Circulation figures again show, is very much not the biggest print media group in South Africa.
But don’t tell the president.
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