CYRIL'S STUPID MOVE

Cyril: Why on earth did you seek a court injunction against a newspaper from publishing e-mails allegedly suggesting multiple affairs?  It was an irrational stupid move.  If only you had taken a page from a long line of politicians whose sexual liaisons, no matter how offensive, played no role in seeking political office.  In today's world a politician's sex scandal has as much negative impact as jaywalking.

What is of concern, however, is your hypocrisy.  For years you were silent while your ANC comrades wantonly looted state resources. When you should have spoken out in parliament and elsewhere you were nothing more than a smiling potted plant.  It was only when you entered the presidential race that you found your cajones.  Too little, too feeble, too late.

ANC MPs - THE GOOD LIFE

There were those hoping that ANC MPs would under the veil of a secret ballot vote to oust Jacob Zuma.  More so, because a number of MPs had broken ranks, and were no longer willing to subordinate principle over party loyalty.

As it turned out 30 MPs left the ANC hive by voting for the motion of no confidence.
Some now regard the mini revolt as tangible evidence of deepening fractures within the ANC.  Possibly,  but all things considered, the ANC's hive-like mentality will crush further defections, and more so because individual self-interest prevails over principle.

Think of it this way:   The vast majority of ANC MPs are beholden to the party for their fine lifestyles -  unquestioning and submissive loyalty to the party translates into an extraordinary investment towards an MP's quality of life - very much like drones in a honey bee colony.

PROTESTS & PRIVATE PROSECUTION

The Times editorial (18/7/17) bemoaned the fact "that there is little hope of South Africa's hobbled prosecutors bringing the perpetrators of state capture to book".  True, even when charges are filed the docket is either lost, stolen, or dumped in the round file.

The solution, according to the editorial is for certain civil society "to march on those who can do something about the problem - the prosecutors and the police".  

In addition to protest marches, private prosecution is available when law enforcement sits on its hands.  Why is it we haven't heard from Gerry Nel who left the NPA for this very purpose?  It's not as if there is an acute shortage of egregious criminal conduct to prosecute!

BALEKA MBETA : A DOEK WITHOUT SUBSTANCE

National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete cuts a fine figure bedecked from head to toe in coordinated finery. In fact, she is one of the few who complements the meaning of mutton dressed up as lamb.

The same cannot be said for her belief that "some judges" are biased against ANC litigants. According to her "it has nothing to do with merit, with correctness or wrongness".  An indefensible belief that goes so far as to metaphorically stain
her regalia.  Like the emperor who wears no clothes, she refuses to see things for what they truly are, instead of denying the truth of the situation.

Rather than asserting judicial bias and overreach, Mbete should surely understand that she and her ANC comrades are their own worst enemies.  She, and others are to blame for endless irrational decisions that demand judicial review.  It has nothing to do with judicial bias, but rather a pervasive level of vacuity that resides in the ANC's theatre of the absurd.

SOUTH AFRICA - AN EASY MARK FOR EASY MONEY

There is no question that South Africa is a mark for easy money dishonestly obtained, or with very little work or effort. One simply has to ask the infamous Gupta brothers how easy it was to capture the state and its SOEs, aided and abetted by government officials bent on lining their pockets.

There is another situation where government insidiously and wantonly wastes obscene sums of money with very little or no attention drawn to it.  This involves consultancy firms retained by national and local government to provide so-called specialised services.  It is legal, but in most cases morally indefensible, because such services, mostly fall into the category of routine in-house responsibilities.

Consultancy services are big business in South Africa - R25-billion spent in the 2015-16 financial year. The likes of Transnet, SABC, Eskom and SAA are addicted to global consultancy services.  They fool themselves that such services will magically dig them out of self-created financial holes.  If it was so, there would be no need for ongoing government guarantees to bail out SOE albatrosses metaphorically around the neck of South Africa's economy.  Billions of rand redound to the benefit of consultants for so-called expertise for what is already patently known, except for dressed-up management consulting double speak.

A couple of journalists recently raised the question of hidden beneficiaries from the billions of rand flowing between global consultancy firms and SOEs.  A bit of a stretch?  Not very likely.

WILL THE SA JUDICIARY BE WHISTLING DIXIE?

President Jacob Zuma is fed up with South Africa's constitutional democracy.  In comments at the ANC's policy conference he lashed out at opposition parties for challenging government decisions in court.  He could have also added his bitter frustration in having to fend off court challenges against him.   But, that would have been too self-serving even for our president.

The court challenges, according to Zuma, undermine the government from implementing its policies, and flies in the face of his understanding of democracy.  In Zuma's world constitutional democracy is unworkable, because "you can't do anything". . . So that, in a sense, [democracy] undermines simple logic that the majority rules. . . "

Zuma is street smart, but when it comes to the workings of democracy he is as dumb as a rock. To him the fact that the ANC is the majority of the electorate gives his government the right to place its interests above all else. That being so, the courts have no business in challenging government decisions.

There are now rumblings for the party to review the Constitution to emasculate the courts.  It seems history will be repeating itself.

ANC POLICY CONFERENCE: REFLECTION & RENEWAL? NO, BUT TIME TO SHOW OFF RADICALLY TRANSFORMED DANCE MOVES!

The discussion documents have been released in advance of the upcoming ANC policy conference.  I wonder how many of you in attendance will have read, let alone understood the discussion documents.  To those who are in need of a bare bones simplified version, I am happy to oblige.  It will give you  the opportunity to at least engage in the discourse, and who knows, even impress your fellow comrades.  If so, you can then pursue more lucrative opportunities at the year-end elective conference.  

At first glance the discussion documents are sugar- coated in feel good lofty ideals that characterised the political movement of long ago, but no more.  

I do not wish to bore you with in-depth discussion details which may put you to sleep.  So, all you need to know is that the conference is supposed to be focused on policy for the good of the country, but it is now centered on the party's loss of power.  Although the documents profess the need for the party to engage in self-correction and renewal, the underlying message is one of paranoia and protecting vested self-interests.  This means that a litany of real issues, such as state capture, are essentially ignored.  So innately predictable, wouldn't you say?

Perhaps you will consider the urgent need to speak up in the name of renewal and self-correction.  It will be more satisfying than simply dancing the time away with  your comrades.