Johannesburg - Childish, impatient, suffering from an inferiority complex and lacking in leadership skills.
That’s what graphologist (handwriting expert) Yossi Vissoker said when he was presented with a scrawled script of President Jacob Zuma’s handwriting on Friday.
Vissoker, who is a forensic and document examiner, wasn’t told who wrote the text before he gave his analysis. He said he thought the untidy scrawl was done in a plane or moving car. He was only told the person’s age and gender before he made his analysis.
“The writer may have been under the influence of alcohol or medication. His age plays no part in his writing because he does not have shaky hands,” said Vissoker, of what turned out to be a sentence penned by Zuma.
Zuma on his visit to Kenya this week had written in a visitors’ book. “It is (illegible word) to be here in this beautiful country Kenya. Thank you for inviting me for a state visit. Thank you for your warm welcome.”
The picture of Zuma’s handwriting was taken when the president was on a three-day state visit to Nairobi, Kenya, where six agreements and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) were signed.
According to a release from the Kenyan presidential strategic communications unit, the MOUs were signed after Zuma and host President Uhuru Kenyatta led their delegations in bilateral talks at State House in Nairobi.
The statement said the two leaders agreed to progressively remove all trade barriers to enable the two countries to benefit from their untapped trade potential.
The picture of Zuma’s illegible handwriting was posted on Twitter on Monday, then later deleted. But fast fingers on Twitter managed to get screenshots before it vanished from the Twittersphere.
“If the person wrote the note on a table, I am a little worried because then something is not right,” said Vissoker, alluding to his earlier comment that the note has many aspects of being written while in motion.
“The handwriting shows that the person is childish, moody, can’t concentrate or stay focused and is not able to distinguish between wrong and right,” Vissorker said.
However, even Bill Clinton has a childish handwriting, he added. “But his (Clinton) shows that he has leadership skills, while this writer has no leadership skills.”
Vissoker explained said he could detect charm in the writer and the ability to recruit people to his side and satisfy them. “But it is to buy the people, not lead them,” he said.
Vissoker said the writer was possibly a comedian who needs an audience. “He needs an audience, but they don’t laugh at his jokes. He feels embarrassed because his opinions do not satisfy the audience. He feels inferior to his peers and would never make a successful businessman.”
Vissoker said the writer was afraid to take decisions.
“But when he does take them, because he is stubborn, he sticks to them even if they are not correct.”
Vissoker has practised handwriting and drawing analysis for more than 35 years. He is certified by the American Board of Forensic Examiners as a forensic examiner, behaviour profiler and document examiner.
Saturday Star