The Week That Was

Gerald Potash,

Hello again

Die Burger in an editorial on the weekend reported Cape Town City 1; Taxi bosses 0. Our mayor gets credit for his calmness and not allowing the bullying to get the better of him and gets praised for demanding that the game be played according to the rules. Rapport newspaper in its editorial criticises the government minister of Transport for taking the side of gangsters rather than the side of law and order. This ANC government has for far too long capitulated to lawlessness and the kangaroo courts of the too many who imagine that they are the backbone of our economy. The reality is that this ANC is too weak (and too corrupt) to prevent any of the blatant criminality that has denuded SA of a transport system –and so much more–that worked perfectly. We have a joke of a Police Minister (in a hat), a useless and incomprehensible Transport Minister and a spineless President. They are the very opposite of a fair and proud young DA Mayor and a DA Premier who stood up to threats and successfully brought the strike to an end without any concessions. Well done, Geordan Hill-Lewis and Alan Winde!

Will the rest of the country now please follow suit. This is Zapiro suming up the whole situation:

But six more taxis were impounded last weekend.  They were not road-worthy according to the cops, and so they were taken off the road. As a result trouble may well be brewing and tension is rising but at least taxis are operating in our city again.  

City Press yesterday reports that R6.1 million in a Limpopo municipality was irregularly awarded. The managers and political big-shots there are now looking for the whistle- blower instead of the thieves.

Then the City Council of e’Thekwini (Durban to you) awarded themselves R1.7Million for a party. The city is falling apart but they waste money on a party. Two typical stories of ANC councillors running Towns here.


On Friday morning Jacob Zuma served 1 hour of his outstanding 15 month prison sentence for contempt of court before he was released on remission because “all our prisons are so very full”. The President had just happened to sanction a new law to release certain prisoners when the jails get too full. So for Zuma it was a drive through order. Go to the gate, tell them you want out of jail and within an hour out you come because of a brand new law. Karyn Maughan writes that there are ample examples to show that we are not all equal before the law and that this government has gone out of its way to treat Zuma by different standards. Again no one gets the whole picture better, not even missing one of the characters, from the prison Commissioner to our President and our Minister of Justice than Zapiro in Monday’s Daily Maverick:

Well a lot more jail time is facing Accused No 1 than his hour served for ignoring Judge Zondo at his Commission’s hearings. Pretty soon the Arms Deal trial comes to court and the R18.5 million Zuma owes in legal costs are going to seem like small fry. But why isn’t something being done to see that he pays those legal costs which were awarded against him for his frivolous stalingrading?

A lot has been written in our press about the SA woman (Dr. Lauren Dickason) who killed her three very young daughters in New Zealand. The trial has been running for a few weeks and it really seems as if the mother is sadly suffering serious depression; she is in hospital and may even be mentally disturbed. Yesterday a guilty verdict was declared and the tears of her lawyers but also of some of the jurors caused the Judge to request that they leave the court. The Judge will decide on sentence in a matter of weeks.

Peter Bruce, last week, wrote about a black 38 year old who stabbed her teenage daughter and gave her two younger children rat poison to kill them because she was so despondent from hunger and poverty. Bongeka Buso was so deep in dept that she could see no way out. 

This story never made headlines but the reality of SA today is so very, very sad.

News24 is doing more and more research into our Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s lifestyle which other people pay for. His failure to pay for anything, not even his birthday parties, in spite of his extravigant tastes, is totally classic. This week his many meals and meetings at a top Melrose Arch restaurant, The SA Winebank, where he had his very own special high-back chair, have been exposed. Well known personalities including cabinet ministers and Fikile Mbalula (the ANC Sec Gen) attended and when asked not one of them denied their presence at his some of his bashes. Meals there could easily cost between R50,000 and R100,000 per gathering.

The National Assembly has tasked Mashatile with getting answers to written parliamentary questions that Ministers have ignored. Ministers are given to 10 days to respond to those questions and almost half of them do not, or at least not in the allotted time.

It takes Cyril a little while to get going. Two years after the murder of whistle-blower, Babita Deokaran he has at last sanctioned a Special Investigative Unit (SIV) probe into the illegal payments totalling more than R1billion in payouts at the Tembisa hospital.

Cyril’s weekly newsletter has made some press this week. He lauds the NPA for recovering R5.4 billion and for making significant steps in attempting to get back more of the stolen money. But you may have noticed that in spite of the 205 suspects fingered by Judge Zondo not one has yet been found guilty or is in jail.

There is a fight brewing between Cyril and our Mayor, Geordan (Pronounced Jordan) Hill-Lewis who has challenged the the President to declare an intergovernmental dispute. The mayor wants a joint working committee set up by the end of the month to alleviate the rail crisis. Cape Town is keen to take over the running of PRASA in our area.

Ramaphosa is not at all happy and has told the mayor that he doesn’t take threats lightly.

There is also a fight brewing between the ANC and their youth league. 

Pravin Gordhan is mad at the ANC youth league leader for his ill-considered statement about the unnecessary need to sell off State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). Gordhan has demanded an apology but so far……..nothing. The Chairman has made it quite clear he will not apologise.

Several (7) opposition parties have gotten together to try to form some sort of “coalition opposition” to the ANC in the upcoming general election. The idea of a “Moonshot pact” is the DA’s idea but not all of the opposition parties are too enthusiastic. Let’s see what emanates.

The BRICS meeting takes place in Johannesburg next week. There will be power outages, the Min of Electricity said so, not I.

SA is running out of money. Dawie Roodt, the well known economist has spelled it out and has warned that the next 5 years will be tough. Have you seen what has happened to the Rand?

Siya Kolisi is fit at last and will captain the Boks in their game against Wales this weekend.

It was a real treat to have Richard with us from Sydney for the weekend. We had a family function to attend on Sunday afternoon but when we came home we tuned into the recorded Spurs opening game of the season. It was almost strange not having the coach on the couch with me but Rich more than made up. The game was a disappointing draw after Spurs had by far most of the possession. We missed Harry Kane. No one can finish like he can.

As always,

Gerald