The Week That Was

Gerald Potash,

Hello again,

Politically, here there is always news to write about.  This week’s big question is:

Is the Government of National Unity (GNU) tearing apart?  

Angry ANC members of parliament have demanded of Fikile Mbalula (Sec Gen of the ANC) to throw the DA out of the coalition.  Mbalula and Panyaza Lesufi (Premier of Gauteng) make no bones about being strongly against having the DA in the GNU.  They believe other parties could fill the gap to allow the ANC to head a “better” coalition. They need more than just the EFF though, who have too few parliamentary seats to take the place of the DA in the current coalition.  Will the ANC invite Zuma’s MK party? Heaven forbid.

Mbalula fancies himself as our next President and Lesufi is helping him spread his influence. The are already also trying to replace Cyril Ramaphosa as leader of the ANC as soon as possible.  

In the meanwhile the DA have said that they won’t dance to the ANC’s tune and they won’t withdraw their legal action objecting to the racial dictates of the majority party. They also will not leave the GNU voluntarily. Helen Zille, chairperson of the DA made that quite clear at a media briefing on Monday. She went on to say that they are not in the GNU to follow the wishes of the ANC but to make SA a success.  Excluding certain race groups (mainly whites and Indians) from job opportunities, referring to the Employment Equity Act,  just won’t grow the economy.

Zille reiterated that the DA is not against transformation but it must be achieved by ensuring economic growth.  The DA sees the amendment proffered by the Labour Minister to the Employment Equity Act as racist.

Zille believes “racial laws” are pushing investors out of SA whereas economic growth will benefit all in the country.

This scary cartoon is from Brandan in Business Day:

The High Court in Pretoria has ordered Ramaphosa to furnish his reasons for signing the NHI (National Health Insurance Act) into law. He has been given ten days to explain his reasons for the signing. Good.

The President also got a klap from the courts this week for signing the Citizenship Act.  Paul Hoffman, of Accountabilty Now was interviewed on SABC TV yesterday explaining this whole judgment and you can find the enlightening clip by entering  ‘Paul Hoffman SABC interview’ on Google. The interview is just over 9 minutes long.

How very lucky we are to have freedom of speech and an independent judiciary.  But do we still have freedom of the press?

David Bullard and Leigh-Ann Hallak have both, yesterday had articles published pointing out how being critical of the ANC is dangerous. I am very aware that not everyone agrees with my views in these newsletters and I am certainly not anywhere nearly as well-read as Bullard (I’m not sure of Hallak, writing yesterday in BusNews—I have not come across her before…..but boy, she does not pull her punches….. or am not as well read as Paul Hoffman who writes for Accountabilty Now) but I have had an Anonymous threat.  

Parliament has been lax in its accountability, hence State capture.  And in the same vein News24 this week exposed a critic of the ANC as if he is a criminal.

Is this not interfering with freedom of the press?

Then, the ANC has misuses its oversight obligations repeatedly because of the ANC’s commitment to its self-appointed cadres.

Early this week the Paul Mashatile’s eight body guards (the Blue Light Brigade) were completely let off the hook by the SAPS’ (SA Police Service) investigating disciplinary committee for their brutal attack on a motorist with the Deputy President sitting in his fancy BMW looking on: “ If police officers can beat civilians on camera and walk free, if unions can sign off on it all— what is left of public accountability?” That is a quote from DA MP Ian Cameron in yesterday’s editorial in the Citizen.  Cameron called this a miscarriage of justice.  The Citizen asks whether we still have law and order in our country.  

There is a criminal action coming next month from the fellows who were beaten up by the eight Mashatile thugs. Good. 

At the time of the incident one wondered whether this would affect Mashatile’s hopes of becoming our next President.

This Rico cartoon is from Business Maverick more than a year ago when the thugs drew their guns and beat up the two in the Volkswagen Polo:

As this country sinks further and furtherdown it is the ANC and their policies of cadre deployment and corruption that is bringing this country to its knees.  And now from the last election one can see that even black people can see it.  Cyril Ramaphosa must ultimately take the blame for the on-going collapse of virtually all of our services and quality of life that has brought so many more into abysmal poverty, where youth unemployment is at 45%.  A world record not to be proud of.

Some very bad news is Donald Trump’s proposed 100% tariff tax on imported movies. The Cape Town Film Studio, on the N2 just outside of Stellenbosch is a wonderfully successful enterprise and here in Somerset West plans have just been passed for a new huge R6 billion development for making film productions.  With Trumps sudden threat of this tax, we are all waiting anxiously to see what happens.

Some good news is that SA is withdrawing its soldiers from the war-torn DRC. Too many soldiers have died in the Central African country and the plight of the Congolese is depressing with millions having been murdered by the M23 terrorists from Rwanda. This SADAC (South African Development Community) operation has been a ‘spectacular failure’, to quote Business Day on Tuesday. That newspaper went on to call South Africa’s involvement what it was:  A colossal failure of a clueless mission. 

Some more very good news is that there should be no, or at least very little load-shedding for the rest of this year.. The Eskom CEO reports that there is an increase in operational performance & efficiency.   We could even get a reviewed price reduction for our electricity,  according to the Minister.                              

I don’t think this counts for Johannesburg, though.  Johannesburgers have this weekend been warned about intermittent electricity and also intermittent water availability. Oh dear.

And the price of petrol came down again yesterday.

There has been much drama about Kagiso Rabada, our top fast bowler being suspended from cricket for a month for having failed a drug test.  He had been using recreational drugs but he is free to play again. 

The Blitsboks, our 7s rugby team hammered the All Blacks in the final game of the LA 7’s championship on Sunday.  They were unbeaten in this leg and end the season as champions.

Our Stormers didn’t play this weekend and Spurs drew that’s about as good as it gets for our football team.

As always,                                                                                                                                    

Gerald