The Week That Was-Cyril, Julius Malema, South Africa

[Nat Quinn]

The Week That Was-Cyril, Julius Malema, South Africa

Hello again,

I’m quite pleased I missed Cyril’s opening of parliament speech on Thursday. I understand that it was long and boring and there was nothing new. He repeated, ad nauseuam all the promises and expectations of the National Development Plan (NDP) that he has done six times successively as leader of his party and of the country. And nothing comes of any of his plans because too many in the ANC are lazy, incompetent, dishonest and corrupt and he continues keeping them in elevated positions. He did, however advise that the petrol price is too high and they intend to do something about that. But this was promised by the Min of Mineral Affairs 4 years ago.

In his Presidential address he highlighted how far SA has come in 30 years but he didn’t mention the 55% of our country folk who live in abject poverty.

Ramaphosa stressed the need for working together with the 10 other parties who have joined the ANC in the Government of National Unity (GNU). Here’s hoping that makes a difference.

Business Day, in an editorial on Tuesday makes the point that the GNU essentially means that there is no longer a vibrant opposition–DA, IFP and some of the smaller parties — which used to help call the ANC to account.

I learnt from Julius Malema’s reported parliamentary reply to the President’s opening address that Cyril boycotted the inauguration of Nelson Madela in 1964 because he was sulking at not having been made deputy president. This was typical Julius; sniping. He also made allegations that Cyril was an Apartheid collaborator. Well, Cyril sailed into Julius in his response on Monday. He offered to sit with Julius to give him a history lesson because he told him that he just sits and throws insults without knowing what he is talking about. He also slammed Malema for bringing his (Ramaphosa’s) family members into parliamentary debates.

The lobby group Afriforum has taken John Hlope to the Constitutional Court claiming that he is unfit to sit on the Judicial Services Commission (JSC). Afriforum claims that it is inappropriate for aspiring judges to appear before someone who has been found to be dishonest and have neither integrity not strong ethics. Hlope was impeached as a senior judge when trying to protect Jacob Zuma.

On Tuesday the DA took this matter to court by filing papers in the Western Cape High Court to have this injustice corrected.

Jacob Zuma made the news even when I was away. He tried to prevent the SABC (our National broadcaster) from using the term Government of National Unity or even GNU.

The man is clueless!  Then he did not pitch up for his disciplinary hearing by the ANC. The ANC want to sanction him for supporting another party in the lead up to the general election. They want him expelled from their party and that shouldn’t be difficult.

The mampara of the week in the Sunday Times this week is Iqbal Survé. The boss of Independent Media is facing defamation charges for making up a story and splashing it all over the pages of his newspapers. It’s a story about a Durban lecturer and it is all lies. Survé has done it before with a different story of decuplets born in SA but it was also all rubbish. To quote the Sunday Times, Survé is hell-bent on destroying his once credible publications.

Karen Maughan has also launched a case at the Press Council against Iqbal and his group of newspapers that will be heard this week. This judgement could affect all journalists in certain instances as it could influence journalists when simply stating their opinions.

Paul Hoffman’s article in Business Maverick on Tuesday is likely to make several cadres in parliament sweat. The article asks whether turkeys vote for Christmas and Hoffman points out that when Glynnis Breytenbach’s anti-corruption bills come before parliament (within the next 100 days) it will be very telling which ANC members do not vote in favour of her proposals. If they so act it could be for only one reason…….that they are guilty of corruption.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2024-07-22-how-anc-votes-on-glynnis-breytenbach-anti-corruption-bills-will-be-a-key-test-for-gnu/N

Five Cape airports were closed last week because of our horrific weather. I can’t remember a wetter, colder winter and our dams are not complaining; they are full to the brim and some are overflowing. The airports are back on track and we even had a few days of mild sunshine.

A word, if I may, about my few days in Singapore. Our son has an office there and since it was school and varsity break time in Oz my two grandsons came along with him from Sydney to look after their Poppie. Singapore is just 59 years old after breaking away from Malaysia because of political and economic differences. It has almost doubled its size since getting independence by reclaiming land. It is modern, crime-free, perfectly organised and spotless!

One day we were walking in a shopping centre and one of the boys wanted a coke. He went into a 7-Eleven and bought his drink. What is unusual about the story is that there is no one working in that store. Not even someone to check whether you had paid the right money into the dispensing machine.

Even leaving their airport is an experience where you don’t have to talk to a clerk or baggage handler. You simply place your Passport into a machine, next to a conveyor belt. The machine then advises which departure gate to use,  from which terminal you leave and what time you board and it also gives you your boarding pass……even though I was leaving 7 hours later than the boys.  It’s not soulless, it’s efficient. And spending 7 hours at that airport is easy. Oh, how they have developed in 59 years and how we have regressed in 30.

The Western Cape Government won a prestigious award while I was away. Out of 400 entries from 70 countries our fellows won the Public Service Innovation award from the United Nations Public Service Forum.  SA is not all bad and crumbling. Move to the Western Cape and experience service.

On Monday evening, Dennis that character of note invited me to join him at a talk with The Oaks, a club of essentially WP Cricket Club members. The speaker, Tom Dawson-Squibb is a high-performance coach and he got our national cricketing side, The Proteas into the finals of the World Cup T20 against India earlier this year. We had never before reached the final and it was hugely controversial that we didn’t actually win that match. What a lovely speaker this young fellow is and how well Trevor Quirk, the top cricket commentator handled the questions asked of Tom.

On the couch with me to watch our first ever rugby test against Portugal were the Coach, Oom Dawie and Laetitia. The test turned out as most predicted with a 65-21 win for the Springboks but the Portuguese fellows did give their fans in the stands plenty to cheer about with their three converted tries. The Springboks played almost the whole game with 14 men and occasionally went down to 13 players when first a red card ended the new centre’s game early and twice we suffered yellow cards sending players into the bin to cool off. Seven debutants made their first appearance in Springbok colours and it is clear that the Springboks have got enormous depth and there are plenty of talented players knocking on the door for a permanent spot in the world’s No 1 rugby team.

As always,

Gerald

 

SOURCE:The Week That Was – Africa Unauthorised

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