The Week That Was

Gerald Potash,

Hello again,

This week there has been some very negative press on Cyril and his lack of leadership and I’m not surprised. On Friday, Isaac Mashaba writing an ‘open letter to the President’ in The Citizen writes that Cyril is not presidential and he should step aside. He writes that Ramaphosa has become a convener of Commissions and judicial enquiries…..but Presidential he is not. Mashaba believes Ramaphosa’s anti-West policies has seen the destruction of our economy. There are Arab terrorist groups active in SA and Cyril looks the other way; but that is costing us. He must go!        

The editorial in the Mail & Guardian this week points out that Cyril’s ‘National Dialogue’ has serious floors. The talkshop, as Steenhuisen calls it –the DA will not be taking part– is going to cost a fortune and is unlikely to make any difference at all to our situation. The DA believe it is a total waste of money; money that is desperately needed for far more important things than a chat where invitees get paid to pass an opinion with no real chance of their ideas being taken seriously or implemented. Barney Mthombothi in the Sunday Times writes that Ramaphosa is presiding over a crime-syndicate government. The Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu, recently suspended but still on full pay, is alleged to be in cahoots with gangsters. A Cyril-appointed commission will look into allegations of whether he is linked to a criminal syndicate–he is said to be a boss.  Mchunu remains not only on full pay but also attends ANC meetings as a member of the NEC. The professor taking Mchunu’s place will also get a full pay package. Agh, it’s so nice being an ANC cadre. Mthomthoti believes (as do most of us) that Mchunu should be fired, not suspended and he is only in this position because he supported Cyril becoming President when there was strong opposition in KZN against him taking over in 2017.                    

William Saunderson-Meyer also has a “go” at Cyril in Monday’s Citizen. He blames Cyril’s lack of leadership for killing the Government of National Unity. Even the loyal ANC’s Walter & Albertina Sisula Foundation wants Cyril to resign!  

A warning: At the end of last week the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) opined that financial markets have failed to spot the reckoning ahead for SA. Not only Trump will see to the reckoning, so will the American Congress who have named politicians with direct links to Hamas and Iran, like Naledi Pandor, Gwede Mantashe, and Julius Malema (all virulently anti-American and seen in the USA as terrorist supporters) to be put on their persona non grata list. The WSJ believes that the steady Rand is about to get a hit. But our exports to America are only 8% of our total so the drop in the Rand is unlikely to be dramatic, according to the Daily Investor.

The Governor of our Reserve Bank has warned about our inflation targets. They must be reduced. If inflation creeps up to 6%, expect food prices to double in 12 years. The Governor, Lesetja Kanyago believes that more than 100,000 people in agriculture and the motor industry will be adversely affected by Donald Trump’s trade tariffs to be implemented from next week.

Rob Hersov, on the Truth Report, has called out News24 as ANC bootlickers. He names editor Adriaan Basson and his deputy Pieter du Toit as apologists for the ANC and labels them as dishonest in their reporting. I will be very careful what I quote from that news source in future.

Another story still very much in the press this week was our Minister of Security in the Presidency (Yes, we even have a Minister for that!) let it be known that they are expecting a coup d’état in SA.  It all has to do with with the Minister of Police being sidelined while he is being investigated for criminal links.        This Minister, Khombudzo Ntshavheni, who herself has been fingered for corruption and dishonesty, makes random statements with no facts to back-up her story and she expects to be taken seriously. Why doesn’t she tell us tell us her source so that we can verify her story? The very best part of this story, in my opinion is Zapiro’s cartoon in Daily Maverick: 

Cyril has at last fired a Cabinet Minister. It’s hard to believe but the Minister of Higher Education got the boot after the to Parliament. It had to do with her appointment of tainted cadres into top positions in her department. I suppose Cyril had no choice after the DA threat. The budget that is so very important for the country had been shelved twice before and was eventually passed through Parliament yesterday evening. What this exercise shows us is indeed that the GNU is working positively for us. 

Cadre deployment goes on and on in the ANC. This week the leader of the ANC Youth League in Gauteng is crowing that 8 of their members have been appointed to boards of State hospitals in Gauteng –where they can earn up to R100,000.00 per meeting that they attend.            

When I hear this my blood boils. But what about a 29-year-old brigadier, without any police experience and who is out on bail on corruption charges, who has just been elevated to head-up visible policing in Pretoria.  This is not a joke, it’s the reality of SA today.  I can assure you I don’t make these stories up.                                                                    

I liked this cartoon from DavidDToons in BizNews earlier this week: 

Driving home yesterday afternoon I had my car radio on and a woman phoned in to say that she got home 11 hours after she had joined the queue at the SASSA (Social grants and Child support) offices near her home. This ANC government does not care about ordinary citizens it only cares for its cadres.

A big story this week is of the 28 of our young soccer players, mostly from a Cape Town coloured area who are stranded in Portugal. They were chosen to participate in a soccer tournament in Spain, where they did quite well. There was an under 13 side, an under 19 side and a girls team. They are stranded because the local organisers of the tour did not book them return tickets. It’s a mess, with families begging for charity to pay for airfares to get their kids home. So far 8 children and a coach have returned after the public collected enough funds for them to fly home. The news is that the other children will be home by Saturday.

There was plenty of sport on our TVs on Saturday.  The coach was on the couch with me for several hours to watch. We first watched the rugby test between the Springboks and Georgia, played in Mbombela (Nelspuit to you) where SA won 55-10 against Georgia and then the far more entertaining game where the SA under 20’s beat the NZ under 20’s in the final in Italy to become World Champions. That makes SA world champions in open rugby and Under 20’s. For more than an hour between the games we snacked and watched the British Open Golf Champiohips, where the SA’ns, unfortunately, did not feature much.

As always,                                                                          

Gerald