7 reasons why Zuma is a brilliant strategist and tactician

“Dear all just remember, President Zuma started a chess club in Robben Island. When others were reading Hegel, he was perfecting his chess moves” Andile Mngxitama, President of Black First Land First
On agitation and propaganda
There is no way in contemporary times that one can go to war without first being in control of a news platform.
Historical legacy bears testimony to the fact that the weapon of agitation and propaganda, which go together, is indispensable to the arsenal of the revolutionary cause.
Furthermore there is no other way to spread the influence of this cause than by agitation and propaganda via the media, including both print and television.
We have seen a whole generation of revolutionary people being guided by the Pravda newspaper towards the Great October Revolution of 1917. Also let’s remember the influence of the weekly Black Panther paper during the relevant time.
In South Africa (S.A.) the Ruperts and other white monopoly capitalists own and control all the major media platforms.
In this context we have seem the free press come out in defence of Zuma – without which he probably would not have successfully addressed the onslaught at critical junctures. The role of the “free press” – such as the New Age newspaper which was launched in 2010 and ANN7 which was launched in 2013 – in playing it’s historic role to counter the negative propaganda of white monopoly capital is indispensable.

Alternative avenues and relationships for investment

One can’t go against western imperialists without creating alternative avenues and relationships for investment. If you do so – if you go to war with these imperialists without creating the said alternative – they will easily crush the economy they already control. But if you develop opportunities and relationships with alternative investors, this could be a much needed lifeline.
This is why S.A. via Zuma’s leadership joined BRICS in 2010 and thereby strengthened the “South-South relations”.

Alternative banking

The white owned banks in S.A. are correctly referred to as a criminal gang by progressive forces. 23 years into democracy and black banks are not given assistance to develop competitively. Applications for blacks to own banks are successfully blocked by white monopoly capital which in turn controls business through it’s tight control of the banking system.
In fact S.A. and indeed the world are tightly controlled by the banking cartel.
In 2016 South African blacks applied to South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to register the ownership of the Habib Bank. This application has been denied. SARB, with the support of Pravin Gordhan, has continued to deny blacks their rights to and assistance in owning banks in S.A. Gordhan has shares in multiple white owned banks and monopoly businesses and is seen to protect the interests of white monopoly capital over black business, and black people in general.
In Zumas presidency, he approached the Venda Building Society (VBS) for a loan when the white owned banks colluded to refuse him a loan. This for the first time opened up a strong national dialogue that thrust the spotlight on the need for the licencing and establishment of black owned banks as well as the nationalisation of the South African Reserve Bank that would serve the interests of blacks.

Firing the Minister of Finance who is beholden to white monopoly capital

White monopoly capital needs a Minister of Finance that it can control in its own interests. That is why they appointed Pravin Gordhan as Minister of Finance. Zuma knows that to serve black interests, we need a Minister who can discipline capital. Hence he fired Pravin Gordhan along with his deputy Mcebisi Jonas and replaced him with Malusi Gigaba.

Resolving the electricity crisis

Load shedding under white monopoly capital was actually responded to by service delivery made possible via the Eskom deal with Tegeta as indicated below.
White monopoly capital is in control of the mining sector in general. They are in control of the mining and supply of coal to Eskom. They therefore employed their monopoly to force Eskom to buy coal at extremely high prices, leading to load shedding.
During Zuma’s presidency in 2016 the black, partly Gupta-owned mining company Tegeta Exploration and Resources Pty Ltd (Tegeta), secured a deal to supply 5% of Eskom’s coal needs. To this end, the agreement was that Tegeta would supply the coal to Eskom at cheaper rates than what white monopoly capital was insisting on. Subsequent to the Guptas supplying coal cheaply to Eskom, the crisis caused by load shedding in S.A. was resolved.
Under Zuma’s presidency blacks are allowed to compete with White Monopoly Capital and to own Mines in the interests of blacks – something not practiced before.
More specifically under Zuma, black business can transact more freely with State Owned Enterprises than during the tenure of any other post 1994 President.

Expropriation of land without compensation

President Zuma has made more than three calls for “land expropriation without compensation”.

This is certainly the most significant call to be made by a post 1994 President and yes, it deserves the support of all those who are serious about land return to blacks without paying for it. The reasoning of Zuma is simple – land was stolen, it must be returned.
Also, “we will not receive true reconciliation until the land is returned”.
Zuma says the black people of S.A.must own the economy and that this can only happen if we deal with the land question. He correctly asks, what’s the use of a constitution that keeps the black majority in poverty?

Withdrawal of S.A.from the International Criminal Court

The move by President Zuma to facilitate the withdrawal of S.A. from the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a great historical step in the fight against imperialism. The ICC is clearly a weapon and instrument of imperialism used to secure and perpetuate the imperialist agenda.
To this end the ICC has been traditionally used to remove democratically elected presidents, especially in oppressed countries, and replace them with puppets of imperialism. The repeal of the “Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act” and to this end the withdrawal of SA from the Rome Statute of the ICC is of great significance. In this context, it is in line with the need to continue the struggle for structural change against white settler monopoly capital and western imperialism.

Concluding remarks

Evidently Zuma has from 2010 demonstrated both a strategically and tactically advanced posture against white monopoly capital. To this end his efforts have served to fundamentally challenge structural racism. He has moved in a measured way and with precision.
He has done all this while the white owned media and other entities have been engaged in a campaign to push the false narrative that he is the real enemy together with the Guptas so as to further the regime change agenda of western imperialism.
Who can dispute that Zuma is the only sitting democratic president that has taken the nominal power, that the ANC got via the right to vote in 1994, and used it to set blacks in a strategically favourable trajectory towards the institutional destruction of white monopoly capital.
Source: Black Opinion|| By Yerushka Chetty
Read the original article here.