Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
GO, CLERICS URGE ZUMA
President must do what’s best for SA and resign, religious leaders advise ANC Deadly horse sickness hits Cape
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma’s decision to remain head of state is hurting South Africa and he should step down. That was the advice yesterday of the National Religious Leaders’ Council to the ANC.
At a meeting with the ruling party, leading clerics asked the party to tell Zuma to “end the nation’s hurt” and relinquish his office. The president had lost moral legitimacy and the confidence of the public to govern. they said.
“We requested the party leadership to assist the president to resign in the best interests of the country,” said SA Council of Churches (SACC) general secretary Malusi Mpumlwana.
“This is a pastoral concern rather than a political campaign. This is about saying how can the country heal and go beyond the current challenges of morality.”
The latest call ratchets up the pressure on an embattled Zuma as he grimly holds on to office, following last week’s Constitutional Court decision he failed to “respect, uphold, and defend” the Constitution of the Republic.
Since that ruling, there has been a growing cacophony of voices in and outside the ANC for Zuma to go. This week a meeting of the party’s National Working Committee decided to accept Zuma’s partial apology for his transgressions, but also to “listen to the people” in the light of a national mood of anger.
A range of ANC stalwarts and veterans, anti-apartheid activists, business leaders, the children of once-exiled ANC leaders and civil society formations have joined the chorus demanding Zuma’s removal.
The clerics said they rejected Zuma’s apology if it was not linked to leaving office.
SA Council of Churches president Bishop Ziphozihle Siwa said Zuma’s apology was directed at those “who are confused”. He said the “pain” of the political crisis had also been expressed by an ANC delegation they had met.
“The issues are far bigger than the president but he is a representative of political leadership of this nation,” he said. “There comes a point where it is better to change gears. It’s about the president choosing of his own volition that this is actually better for the country.”
One-time Zuma backer Pastor Ray McCauley said there was strong sentiment that the direction taken by the country’s leadership was not in the best interest of the nation.
Reverend Frank Chikane said the ANC leadership they had met was also “hurting”, and this was a “very difficult moment”. He said the call was not about regime change but to avoid events that might cost lives.
On Thursday 40 former members of “Masupatsela” or “young pio- neers” – South Africans who were born or raised in exile – threw their weight behind calls for action against Zuma, accusing him of embarrassing the ANC and flouting the constitution.
Yesterday ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said the party had agreed on the need for further discussion with the religious sector.
Internally the ANC has also faced calls for the party to call a special conference to elect a new leadership and there are concerns the political cost of the ANC’s decision to vote against the opposition’s impeachment motion in Parliament this week could be felt in four months when local government elections are held. THOUSANDS of Western Cape horse owners have been told to lock up their horses, with an indefinite quarantine announced in the province to prevent a deadly horse disease from spreading.
Alan Winde, Economic Opportunities MEC, said yesterday the quarantine had been instituted after a Paarl veterinarian detected a case of African Horse Sickness (AHS) in a horse this week.
“Samples collected from the colt tested positive for the AHS virus,” said Winde.
“We activated a routine surveillance programme immediately. Our vets are working in the area to determine whether any other animals on the property are affected.”
Movement restrictions were in place and no movement of horses was allowed into the containment zone “without a movement permit from a state vet”. The quarantine is in place for a 50km radius around Paarl, and has led to the cancellation of various horse- related events planned for the weekend.
The discovery of AHS could also affect South African horse exports to the EU, state veterinarian Gary Burhmann said yesterday.
Winde added: “We urge horse owners to stable their horses from two hours before sunset to two hours before dawn to minimise the risk of the vector (the Culicoides midge) having contact with their horses.
“In addition, we appeal to owners to use a registered insect repellent during the vector-feeding periods.”
The quarantine area spreads as far as Gordon’s Bay, Riebeek Kasteel, Malmesbury and a number of other areas, with horses prohibited from being transported along major highways such as the N7 and N2. Burhmann said veterinarians had been sent to various horse farms.
“We are checking out horses (for AHS). This sickness is extremely virulent and fatal. Literally thousands of horses are affected,” he said.
“People don’t want their horse exposed. We export horses to the EU, so in order to export we have to notify them and take precautionary measures.”
Burhmann said “everything in a 50km radius (of the viral detection)
becomes a no-go zone”.
“Horses can’t go off the property. We advise people that their horses must stay in their stables. If they can’t, we would recommend spraying them with insect repellent during the night,” he added.
Burhmann said the Culicoides midge was a “small insect that you can’t see with the eye” that bites an infected horse and transports the virus in that way to other horses.
“You can only see this insect under a microscope but they can cause so much damage. The virus stays in the midge for seven to 10 days,” he said.
“It’s like malaria, when a mosquito picks up malaria from one person and transfers it to another.”
Burhmann said the virus could have been transported to the Western Cape via an infected horse from elsewhere. He said visible AHS symptoms in the horse included “swelling above the eyes and sounds from their lungs”.
A horse could die within hours of the symptoms being spotted, he added. Horse event organisers said yesterday they were losing cash as a host of their weekend events had been cancelled.
Peter Roodman, who organised this weekend’s Western Cape Horse of the Year show in Paarl, said they heard about the quarantine at 1pm yesterday. Their first show event was meant to start two hours later.
“It’s a huge financial loss. You have to hire caterers and it’s everything that goes with it. I’m sitting with a lot of meat and 200 cheesecakes,” he said.
“We had main sponsors flying down from Johannesburg and our judges were from out of town. They were at the airport when we told them we have cancelled.”
Roodman said participants had 160 horses entered into the competition and were travelling from across the province. “We have to look at the animal’s welfare and people understand that,” he said. “Most of the events have been shut down for the next 40 days. We will hold our event in June.”
Altus Hanekom, president of Western Cape Endurance which organises long-distance horse riding events, also cancelled their weekend races on the West Coast.
“Everything has been cancelled as a precautionary measure.”
yazeed.kamaldien@inl.co.za