Pretoria - It was business as usual for beleaguered President Jacob Zuma when he met members of the National House of Traditional Leaders in Pretoria on Thursday.
Zuma put on a brave face and ignored mounting calls for him to step down.
Instead, he was his charming self, laughing and cracking jokes in a mixture of English, Zulu and Xhosa.
“Let us solve African problems in an African way, otherwise the ways of the courts can be long and complicated,” Zuma told the chiefs.
“I must not talk too much because I might get blamed for something I do not know. I only speak the truth,” he said at one stage.
By the time he concluded, there was a series of laughs, with nothing resembling the sombre president who apologised to the nation for the Nkandla debacle on national television a week ago.
He spoke after traditional leaders had discussed some of the issues affecting the delivery of services.
The traditional leaders met to discuss and debate issues the president had tasked them with when he attended the first session in March. This was the second sitting.
In their debate, they mentioned problems around land distribution, legislation and policy.
They also mentioned problems faced by the spouses and widows of chiefs and other traditional leaders.
Zuma told them he enjoyed the debate.
“It has been lively and relevant and touches on the very soul of our people.”
Some of the issues could be solved with the intervention of government departments, Zuma said, but others required the joint co-operation of all traditional leaders and their constituencies.
“We are faced with a triple challenge - inequality, unemployment and poverty,” he said.
The president asked the chiefs if it was possible to solve the problems facing the country amid existing issues such as land disparities.
The traditional leaders, he pointed out, were the right people to discuss that and should be allowed to do so without undue interference.
“Nation-building is a major aspect of the future of our country. It is the responsibility of us all, but perhaps more so of traditional leaders.”
But he reminded them that it was colonialism, apartheid and the resultant divisions that had laid the ground for such problems, and that there was a need for harmonisation of financial affairs.
Zuma said these issues required sober minds to debate and solve them as opposed to going the threatening and violent route.
There was no need to turn to the courts to solve a situation whose foundation was in the traditional setting.
“We need to find out what made the way we have become; to find out why we were once so respectful... why there was no crime and why there are now so many criminals. What can we do to restore our dignity as a nation.”
Some of the issues would be dealt with by Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister David van Rooyen, he said.
“He is my white man; there was happiness all around when his appointment was announced, because people assumed he was white. They were surprised when he turned out (to be) black.”
Pretoria News