Dogs

Zuma's has gone too far. I mean the whole rape trial, arms deal corruption and the hollowing out of our democracy was bad and so I guess this was just the final straw. He said that owning dogs and looking after them (taking them to the vet and for walks) is part of "white culture" - whatever that is. He also said that people who spend more money on their dogs than their domestic workers "lack humanity".

There is a lot in this and it's got me thinking - which I guess is one positive. Being a dog owner, I reacted very strongly when I heard what JZ had said. The first bit - about white culture - I don't think much can be said about in terms of arguing the point. I don't know what white culture is, but referring to it is an example of JZs leadership style. Well, calling it leadership is a bit too generous. His career or survival skills. It is so very divisive. Playing groups off against each other to win votes - I think Not what I'd expect from the leader of a democracy. 

On to the "lacking humanity" bit. This gets a bit trickier. Comparing an employee who cleans your house or tends your garden to a dog is not easy. One is an employee and the other a dependant, and to suggest they are both dependant would, I would think, be insulting. So to simply look at your budget and say I spend R1000 on my dog every month (I actually spend about half that) and R500 on having my house cleaned (I actually pay R200 for one day a week at the moment, but would prefer not to have any domestic help - more on that later) and therefore I value my dog twice as much as the person who cleans my house, is very problematic. 

This is not to say that some people's monthly budgets aren't seriously out of whack, or that people don't pay the people who clean their houses or tend their gardens enough. It also doesn't mean that JZ can not talk about that or actually DO something about it (shock horror). If he really has a problem with dogs, how about making dog food more expensive? Or even better taking on the WTO and raising huge import tariffs on imported dog food? After all most of the brands of expensive dog food are imported from the US or EU - now that is crazy! 

Going beyond dogs, and if humanity was something JZ really wants to get serious about, how about getting a task team or the National Planning Commission to look into some standards that everyone in SA could live sustainably by and then encourage people to live according to these (whether that would allow people to own dogs or not, I don't know). That might mean JZ would have to live according to those standards too though - something he seems incapable of doing, rather setting the worst example of fiscal responsibility for the rest of the nation. 

I reacted to JZs utterances emotionally, because I own a dog. However I really think that there is far more going on behind what he is saying that warrants outcry, whether you are a dog owner or not. We should want change, we should want to discuss these things and we should want more social stability and equality. Trying to approach these questions through the off hand comments of a career politician who is in it for the cash is not the way to go about it.

JZ using these sorts of issues as a way to entrench his grip on power sickens me.