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The Week That Was-ANC, Cyril, DA, Jacob Zuma, South Africa
Gerald Potash
Hello again,
As many of you will know Jacob Zuma is not my favourite politician. If I told you though that I am eternally grateful to him for the manner in which he destroyed the ANC, I’m sure you will understand my feelings. Who would have thought, even as recently as a year ago that the “liberation” party (ANC) would crash down to just 40% of the vote in a general election. That drop could get worse in the near future. The fighting between the various political parties, so many with their ‘original homes’ in the ANC in the lead-up to the general election was actually quite pleasing to watch. Much of that can be ascribed to Jacob Zuma.
This weekend saw several results in local by-election voting and again the ANC is the biggest loser. In Beaufort West 7 by-elections saw the ANC lose 6 of those seats that previously were theirs. And in KZN MK took a beating. Has sense at last come to our voters? The major winners were the DA in Beaufort West and the IFP in KZN.
William Saunderson-Meyer in his column in The Citizen writes that the GNU is a marriage of convenience, cobbled together in crisis where the parties know that there are irreconcilable differences. He does not believe the marriage will last long, at all. The point that he makes is that it doesn’t have to last long. It just has to survive long enough to break the horrible downwards spiral brought on, I believe by Zuma and the ANC’s mismanagement caused by cadre deployment and corruption.
The weekend also saw the sharp differences between the DA and the ANC surfacing. Helen Zille had addressed a letter to Cyril making strong demands. The letter was leaked. The ANC was hopping mad about that. Zille wanted 10 or 11 cabinet posts for her party, Steenhuisen to be Deputy President and Deputy Ministers to go with the DA appointed Ministers and more. The ANC were quick to let it be known that they would not be bullied.
The Government of National Unity now comprises 10 different parties who are represented in parliament. The Opposition now comprises only 3 parties; that’s all that’s left after Al Jamaah with its 2 members also joined the GNU. Between them the opposition have almost 100 seats out of the 400 positions.
The MK party was sworn into Parliament only on Tuesday because last week they boycotted the pomp and ceremony of the first sitting and Cyril’s crowning. Zuma wasn’t a MP amongst them but his very vocal daughter, Duduzile was. The MK is being led by disgraced and impeached former Chief Justice of the Cape, John Hlope. The judge is a great pal of JZ and was impeached for trying to convince two judges not to rule against JZ in a case already before them. After that, in trial after trial he tried to protect Zuma and himself. He used many of the same Stalingrad tactics that Zuma uses. His impeachment took years and years and all that time he sat on the Bench as Judge President. Have you ever heard of an impeached judge (impeached because he is a liar) heading to parliament as the leader of a political party? Let alone now telling all that “I am the Leader of the Opposition”. This kind of thing only happens in SA!
Mind you, the ANC is not much better than the MK (umkhonto weSizwe). Our former Minister of Sport, Art & Culture Zizi Kodwa was forced to resign his cabinet position very recently and also his ANC membership when he was charged in court with fraud and corruption. Evidence of his corrupt activities can be read in the Zondo report of State Capture. The ANC has rules and when a member is charged, he must step aside. But for loyal cadres those rules get bent. Kodwa was in parliament on Tuesday being sworn in as an ANC MP. The oft proclaimed policy of ANC members standing down once accused and until found ‘not guilty’ in court means nothing. This proves more of the ANC weaknesses in spades. When asked about it by the press this week Kodwa said the ANC wants him in government. Who gets our politics right better than Brandan. This cartoon from Business Day on Tuesday:
On Saturday the Senate at UCT passed two resolutions banning contact and/co research with Israel’s military and any existing contact must be severed.
The weekend was spent watching sport and the political squabbling. The DA was demanding 30% of the cabinet seats and obviously Ramaphosa and his advisors were not happy with that. We all expected the much-awaited cabinet to be announced on Monday morning……..then on Tuesday afternoon…..then Wednesday some time and as I send this newsletter to you…….still no news. Many of our papers, towards the end of last week and through the weekend had to do with racism and with the DA as the target. A 15 year-old video clip surfaced showing a newly elected DA MP, Ronaldo Gouws ranting ‘kill the k……s’. He says he was responding to Julius Malema, then chairman of the ANC Youth League singing ‘Kill the Boer’ and taking that even further when Malema ranted he wanted all whites killed but not yet.The Kill the Boer song which many blacks including Jacob Zuma have repeatedly sung, is sung in isiZulu and there are clips on TV that can be easily located. As you can imagine the ANC and then the press had a great time showing the DA as racists. After the cry to have Gouws booted out, the DA has suspended him as an MP and have called for him to appear before the DA’s Federal Legal Commission. This cartoon from the Daily Friend by DavidDToons this week:
The World Champion (note the capitals, Michael in Toronto) and I had a very busy social weekend. Catch-ups with Sue and Anthony on Satrday then with Clive and Christine on Sunday followed by a visit to Pat and after that to Cedric and Michelle. All to be fitted in a weekend where neither the rugby neither the cricket could be forgotten or left out. Keeping contact old with friends is always a highlight.
The Proteas (our national cricket team) playing in the World T20 competition in America and the West Indies cobbled together another unconvincing win after several earlier nail-biting wins and have remained unbeaten throughout the tournament. With only the semi and the final rounds to go — could we become the champions? T20 is not the cricket that I played and loved but it is exciting and gaining huge spectator interest.
On the couch to watch the rugby test between Wales and the Springboks at Twickenham (our first outing since winning the World Cup) were Oom Dawie and the Coach –please note the capital C, Michael. The game almost felt like a home game with so many Springbok supporters in the stands. The score at the break was 14-13 to the Boks but then Rassie brought on the youngsters for their first outing in the hallowed green and gold. We ended with a very convincing 41-13 win. A lovely game to watch. Two of those youngsters made such an impression that Rassie has picked them into the team to play Ireland on Saturday.
An hour later we watched the Bulls chuck away their final at home against Glasgow Warriors in the United Rugby Champions. A game they should never have lost. But all credit to Glasgow, their team played well, especially considering the altitude.
As always,
Gerald
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