The reality of '9 wasted years' - A decade WMC failed to capture Zuma

For too long, South Africans have been bombarded with a dishonest narrative coined by the very architects of our economic servitude, that the period of President Jacob Zuma's administration represents "9 wasted years." This phrase, repeated ad nauseam by the establishment media and WMC-sponsored analysts, is perhaps the most insidious gaslighting operation of the democratic era.

As we celebrate the 83rd birthday of President Zuma, let us set the record straight. Those years were "wasted" only for White Monopoly Capital (WMC), because despite relentless attempts, they failed to co-opt Jacob Zuma into their puppet stable. What WMC calls "wasted," we call a period of fierce resistance, economic transformation, and geopolitical realignment that threatened to upend their centuries-old stranglehold on our economy.

The greatest "sin" President Zuma committed was not corruption - it was courage. He refused to be a puppet. He disrupted the comfort of Stellenbosch boardrooms and rattled the inherited privilege of a minority elite who assumed every president would bow before them. He asserted that economic power must follow political power - and for that, a coordinated propaganda campaign was unleashed against him.

The judiciary, civil society, and media, captured not by politics, but by economics, became the instruments through which this vilification was executed. But history will vindicate President Zuma for one thing above all: WMC failed to capture him.

Let us move away from slogans and look at empirical evidence, the real achievements during the Zuma administration that WMC wants buried under soundbites and spin.

Poverty reduction: According to Stats SA, the number of South Africans living below the upper-bound poverty line dropped from 66.6% in 2006 to 53.2% in 2011, the steepest decline in the democratic era, during Zuma's term.

Black Economic Empowerment: President Zuma's government introduced the revised B-BBEE codes to close loopholes and push for substantive economic transformation, not window-dressing. WMC despised this shift because it meant losing control over fronting and fake compliance.

State-led industrialisation: The Black Industrialists Programme was launched to empower black entrepreneurs and grow the productive sectors. Over 100 black-owned industrial firms were funded, injecting billions into manufacturing. That's not waste - that's a legacy.

BRICS & a new world order: Zuma deepened South Africa's role in BRICS, helping launch the BRICS New Development Bank, a bold step away from the exploitative grip of the IMF and World Bank. He was crafting a future beyond the neo-colonial global order.

Infrastructure development: Through the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC), Zuma's administration spearheaded the largest public infrastructure drive since democracy, from railways to water schemes, from roads to energy. Projects like Medupi and Kusile were envisioned to end load shedding.

Sabotage and elite resistance delayed their full potential, but the vision was there and in fact Comrade Brian Molefe had ended load-shedding in 2015 already, until Mr. Ramaphosa and his renewable energy friends brought it back in 2018 when he became the President.

Free education: In December 2017, President Zuma stunned the neoliberal establishment by announcing free higher education for the poor and working class. Today, thousands of young South Africans are in universities because of that decision. WMC said it was unaffordable. We say it was unforgivable that it took so long.

Massive ARV rollout: President Zuma announced a new era in the approach to AIDS in South Africa, where at least 5.7 million people are infected with HIV, and predecessor Thabo Mbeki was accused of failing to address a sickness that killed an estimated 1,000 people a day. President Zuma encouraged all South Africans to undergo HIV testing and likened the battle against AIDS to the struggle against apartheid.

The Real Wasted Years: 2018 to Date.

If South Africans are looking for "wasted years," they need look no further than the Ramaphosa era, the five-year honeymoon with WMC.

• SOEs have crumbled.
• Load shedding reached Stage 6 and beyond.
• Youth unemployment skyrocketed past 60%.
• Treasury implemented austerity measures, slashing public spending and stalling wage increases, and dismally failed to grow the economy.
• The dream of transformation was sold off for applause from Moody's and Standard & Poor's.
• Vat increase to strangle the poor even more.
• Closure or facing liquidation of Black Owned/run financial institutions, Ithala Bank, 360 Life Insurance, Nestlife, to name but a few.
• Dropped the ANC from 62% to 57% to 40% and still going down.

WMC finally got their compliant president. He even entered into a Faustian Pact with DA, an ideological enemy of the National Democratic Revolution, the political rand smiled, but the people wept.

In conclusion, President Zuma's legacy is not one of perfection, no leader is. But let us not be misled: he was the only president post-1994 who took on the economic elite head-on and paid the price. The "9 wasted years" were only wasted from the perspective of those who wanted to keep South Africa in economic chains.

As the MK Party, we proudly carry forward the torch of radical economic transformation, not in speeches, but in action. We say: the era of polite negotiations is over. The era of fighting for the black child, the unemployed graduate, the landless villager, that is the unfinished business we commit to. As we honour President Zuma's 83rd birthday, we salute not just the man, but the mission. The years may have passed, but the cause remains urgent. WMC failed to capture him, and they will fail to capture us.