Generaal Jacobus Zuma?

Is Jacob Zuma courting the Afrikaners? The question was asked this week after Zuma and a few well-known Afrikaners had a good old kuier at a braai at a guesthouse in Houghton, Johannesburg.

This is not the first time Zuma has made overtures to the Afrikaner community. Last month he and popular Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr also enjoyed biltong and tea together after Zuma visited the scene of a recent farm murder.

Zuma compiled the guest list for this week’s braai himself. First on his list was comedian Leon Schuster and second Bok van Blerk, the musician who sings De la Rey. Van Blerk was unable to make the braai because of a concert, instead the writer of the song, Sean Else, attended. The guestlist of about 10 people included Hofmeyr, Kallie Kriel — CEO of the Afrikaner civil rights group AFriforum — and political philosopher Dan Roodt.

‘Zuma is one of the few leaders with whom I would sit around a fire. He’s an honest man and speaks like an Afrikaner — a straightforward person,” Hofmeyr said at the braai. ‘We come from different backgrounds, and what’s better than sitting around a braai and chatting about our differences.”

But many Afrikaners have questioned the sincerity of Zuma’s dialogue with the Afrikaner community and whether, as a savvy politician, he isn’t simply using them.

‘Our readers are still cautious about Zuma,” said Tim du Plessis, editor of the biggest Afrikaans newspaper in the country, Rapport. ‘His comments about the rule of law as well as his supporters’ behaviour outside the court during his rape trial scared many.”

But, he said, Afrikaners also realise that there is chance that he might become the next president of South Africa and they should open the channels of communication.

Du Plessis said he believed there was a measure of opportunism in Zuma’s advances. ‘Make no mistake, Zuma is a crafty politician. He saw that there has been a commotion among Afrikaners and that they feel marginalised.”

Zuma was playing to Mbeki’s weaknesses, Du Plessis believed. ‘Getting an Aids test done and visiting the scene of a farm murder all plays against the areas where Mbeki is perceived to be weak,” he said.

But what value could Afrikaners have for Zuma in his bid to become South Africa’s next president? Du Plessis believes that Afrikaners are merely props on a political stage, ‘a nice-to-have”. ‘It makes him look like a leader to be seen negotiating with Afrikaners and it also puts him on centre stage.

‘What is wrong with talking,” he said. ‘It is better than fighting.”

Hofmeyr, who called the first meeting a ‘Piet & Dingaan shares tee and biltong” meeting — a reference to Piet Retief and Dingaan’s fatal meeting in the 19th century — said on his blog that reconciliation will never happen ‘as long as a far-right bitterness and a post-struggle self-pity bedevils the playing field”.

This week’s braai was organised by Afrikaans magazine De Kat, which is running a special on presidential candidates and will invite one candidate to engage with them in every issue this year. The magazine’s next target is Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said De Kat editor Elzilda Becker.

Becker said the idea behind the braai was to make Afrikaans culture more accessible, as well as to reach out to other South Africans. She said black empowerment and affirmative action were two of the topics that came up in the discussion.

‘Mr Zuma said that he believed affirmative action was not carried out correctly,” she said.