Please Pray For South Africa - Part 2

Last Monday I posted a blog entry about how former president Thabo Mbeki had resigned from the presidency, and Izak commented and said I was over reacting with my assumptions and statements. To be honest, he's probably right. I know I have a tendency to over react at times, especially when it concerns the safety of those I love, like my wife.

So here's a second perspective, a week later.

South Africa still needs prayer. We're going through a rough period. The markets took a hit with former president Mbeki and a third of the cabinet leaving, although they mostly recovered. There's still some uncertainty hanging in the air, and I think that most folks are still feeling a little uneasy. It's a "wait and see" game, we're waiting and watching to see what's going to happen.

Kgalema Motlanthe, the deputy president of the ANC has been inaugurated as the caretaker president, and he has selected his new cabinet, shuffling a few folks around where necessary. Unfortunately I'm not really up to scratch on politics, it's not a subject that really interests me, but I'm glad to see that former president Nelson Mandela has said that he's pleased with Mr Motlanthe leading our country for the next couple of months.

However, after Mr Motlanthe's 6 or 7 months as caretaker president, we have elections, and Jacob Zuma will most probably become our next president. I'm not sure what to expect from Mr Zuma. He likes to say what the people want to hear, and he is strongly backed by loud and potentially violent people like Julius Malema. His "theme song" (if you want to call it that) is "Get me my machine gun," a song which doesn't help me put much hope in him. However, he is not an idiot.

I think Mr Zuma will most probably try to please both the people and the business world. Certainly in the beginning, if he knows what's good for him and his country, he will try to maintain the current business situation, and improve on areas like poverty, unemployment, and crime. I'm hoping he will do that.

The reason I'm wary of Mr Zuma is that he's been quite outspoken against "colonialists" which roughly translates to whites. One only has to look at Zimbabwe to see the affect of a president who still, 20 years later, is adamant that it's the colonialists' fault that Zimbabwe is in ruins, but through trying to kick the whites out the country has himself ruined the economy.

So my view on all of this at this stage is "wait and see." I'm not going to try to find a way out of this country, I'm not going to panic or to flee. I'm just going to watch the political situation, and if it comes to it, make plans to leave the country.

So, please pray for South Africa. We still have uncertainty ahead, and as a white person, I'm a little wary of Mr Zuma. Please pray for Mr Zuma, that he would be fair, that he would not descriminate, that he would implement policies and programmes that help deal with the problems in our country. Please pray for the government, the cabinet, and the people of this country. We need strong leaders, and we need confidence that we can make this country a better place.