The Week That Was – #Africa, #ANC, #Cyril, #DA, #EFF, #Jacob Zuma, #South Africa, #Zelinski

Gerald Potash

Hello again,

Dennis, that character of note, invited the usual suspects to join him at the CTPress Club on Tuesday.  At our table were, as usual Paul, Henry, Mike and, for the first time Martin Welz,  famous for the political investigative Noseweek magazine, that unfortunately is no more.  The speaker was retired Judge Dennis Davis talking about the VAT increase and he is brilliant.  It was one of the most stimulating talks that I have ever attended at the Press Club.

Business Day yesterday ran a front page article about Davis’s talk. He headed up the tax committee that assessed SA’s tax policies and made recommendations to the Treasury.  The newspaper quoted the retired Judge, in his talk to the Press Club the newspaper saying  “I really don’t understand what the fuss is about R13.5 bn in a budget over R2-trillion”. There are so many places where that can be found by simply cutting costs; thereby intimating that VAT should not be increased.

On the same tack, the DA and the EFF have gone to court to stop SARS (our Revenue Service) from implementing the budget that proposes a VAT increase from the first of next month.  Judgement has been reserved, but we are expecting a decision by next Tuesday.          As you can see, when it comes to this budget from Siwela’s in his cartoon in The Citizen,  not all the donkies (political parties) are pulling in the same direction:

The court in Bloemfontein heard last week that Ace Magashule was paid R10 million after R255m asbestos tender award.

Of course, the former Free State premier and mouthpiece of the ANC as its one-time Secretary General has pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption regarding the asbestos roof removal project in the Free State province. It is averred that Magashule received R10 m shortly after Edwin Sodi’s company was paid R230 million for a tender in 2014 to remove asbestos roofing from houses, the Free State High Court heard last Wednesday.

Magashule and Sodi are among 13 people and five companies charged with corruption by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) relating to the R255m tender issued by the Free State’s human settlements department. All have pleaded not guilty…….The saddest part of the story is that it has taken the NPA eleven years to charge these cadres and get them to court.

But Magashule’s story is not unusual.  Almost everyday a story emerges where we, the tax payers are being ‘taken’ by the greedy ANC cadres. The story doing the rounds this week is of the Dept of Education in Mapumalanga paying R2 million for 22 computers which cost just R8999 each. The total cost of those computers are less than R200,000. Will the NPA act? ……………..Don’t hold your breath.

Business Tech reports that SA lost R521 billion bailing out corrupt & mismanaged state-owned enterprises. The report estimates that the amount ‘lost’ could be even more than that.                                    Soon after Ramaphosa took over the Presidency from Zuma he referred to the ANC as “accused No 1”. What has he done about it?    Nothing.  That’s Cyril; he really has turned indecision into an art form.

BizNews reports that corruption charges have been laid against our erstwhile Justice Minister who is now Min of Human Settlements, Thembi Simelane.  She stole R700,000.00 from Eskom when she worked for Vitrovian and she is deeply implicated in the VBS Bank looting. Cyril knew about this all along according to Glynnis Breytenbach of the DA.

As you can see the ANC is corrupt from top to bottom and at last some big-shots are being prosecuted. Now you can see why we are known as the most corrupt country in the world.

In a scathing editorial the political analyst, Isaac Mashaba writes in the Citizen on Tuesday:  The Rand has collapsed and our economy is in tatters. Our education and health care continues to fail the people. Our infrastructure is deteriorating by the day.      While our country crumbles away, Ramsphosa calls for militancy and land grabs without compensation and blames everything that has gone wrong on apartheid.

Dali Mpofu is very often in the news.  When he is not defending Jacob Zuma in court then some other big-shot pays him plenty to act on their behalf. He is rude, disrespectful, full of himself and arrogant to a degree. Well, the Legal Practices Council have called him to appear before them. They have the power to disbar him and we will be watching these proceedings with keen interest.

This is Zapiro’s take on the matter from the Daily Maverick:

In an article in The Daily Friend, Paul Hofmann of Accountability Now points out that BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) has never worked and it must be replaced. His article is a must read and you can click on it here:

Money is flooding out of South Africa:  According to JSE data, foreign investors sold R3.4 billion worth of South African equities last week, bringing their total year-to-date sales to R94.8 billion. This is nearly triple the value of shares sold by foreign investors during the same period last year, continuing a decade-long trend of investors taking money out of South African assets.

Paul Mashatile’s car was shot at early this month. He wasn’t injured on his way home from an ANC NEC meeting but police are investigating.  Don’t expect a speedy result to this investigation.

Volodimir Zelensky will be in SA today.  The main talks will be about strengthening agricultural trade relations. I’m not too sure how Zelensky will feel about trading with a staunch Russian defender in the war against his country.

South Africa has once again cemented its place on the global whisky map, with Three Ships Bourbon Cask being named the World’s Best Blended Whisky at the 2025 World Whiskies Awards (WWA) in London.  Their secret: blending the whisky for at least 3 years in ex-American bourbon casks.   This win comes in the highly competitive “World’s Best Blended” category, marking a proud moment for South African distilling craftsmanship.

The Two-Oceans Marathon is in trouble: The City of Cape Town has pulled sponsorship and support of the iconic Two-Oceans Marathon in the Western Cape, following permit breaches by the event organisers. The event runners reportedly allowed thousands more to compete in the event than permitted. Cape Town city believes they put safety and security at risk. Will the organisers be able to find another sponsor?  Will the city allow a bigger field?

I know nothing about Netball but a sporting story that has caught my attention is the fact that the Cecilia Molokwane our National chairperson has been suspended by World Netball. Noboby seems to know why. The lady has been in charge of Netball here for 7 years and intends standing for a third term soon.

Stormers played at home in Cape Town on Saturday and in the most exciting match of the championship won 34-32 because their conversion of their late try went just to the right of the upright. We played Connacht and everytime we scored, they scored.  This was a real nail-biting rugby humdinger.

Spurs made it into the semi-final of the European League with a 1-0 win in Frankfurt last week, it wasn’t easy and it really wasn’t expected. But we’ll take it. The season’s depression for fans continues, however as Spurs lost their 18th league game of the season on Monday night.  Oh, it’s tough being a Spurs fan.

As always,

Gerald