The Week That Was

Gerald Potash,

Hello again,

The biggest political shock of the decade came on Friday when Floyd Shivambu, deputy leader of the EFF since its inception and author of its 7 cardinal pillars, left the party to join Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.

Julius Malema reacted immediately by stating that the news of Shivambu’s deflection affected him as much as his mother’s passing. But in the aftermath of the sudden & unexpected departure of Shivambu there have been several commentaries on the relationship between the two high-profile opposition players taking strain. It probably has to do with the manner in which Julius in likelihood approached Cyril (behind Floyd’s back) for the post of Deputy Presidency of the country were the EFF to join the GNU.

Tim du Plessis in his Op-ed in Rapport called Shivambu’s departure from the EFF an act of the theatre of the absurd. He pointed out that both Floyd and Julius were extremely complimentary to each other at the press conference on Thursday and neither gave any reason at all for the split. 

The question now is; will other members also follow the brains away from the EFF?  Already a top businessman, Mzwanele Manyi has also left the EFF to join MK.

Or is it possible that this whole manoeuvre is a plan by Julius (and Floyd?) to get the MK Party to join with the EFF and so form a strong united opposition to the Government of National Unity? This view or likelihood is expounded by Dawie in his excellent Op-ed in the weekend Burger as he looks out for a conspiracy theory.

Peter Bruce in his Sunday Times column points out that our politics is normalising. Is race being replaced by politics? He asks. And he ends his column by suggesting what happens to Floyd Shivanbu in the next 6 months will be instructive.  This is Zapiro’s take on the affair, and it is by far the more obvious view, from Saturday’s Daily Maverick:

Like the ANC the EFF lost significant support in the last general election. At a Party meeting on Tuesday Malema hinted that more of the top brass in the EFF are preparing to leave and he encouraged them to do so. He was far less complimentary than when he addressed his crowd with Shivambu. He told them to go because they are betraying the EFF.

Are we now witnessing the end of the EFF?

Paul Hoffman, of Accountability Now in Business Day on Monday and before that in Businesslive has highlighted the despicable situation where the the bulk of the data collected from the Zondo Commission Report has disappeared from the database. For this reason alone, writes Hoffman heads must roll.

Our National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is desperately weak and this makes them even weaker.

Bill Johnson, the Oxford don, has the very clearest political view of what has gone wrong with our country. It is racism. He pointed out in his discussion with Alec Hogg of Biz News that the Nationalists brought in a myriad of racial laws which dictated to the population where and what they could do. And the ANC has done exactly the same with their BEE laws and affirmative action and that despite their saying that they are non-racial. And these laws have cost us investment and caused the country to look the way it does. 

The ANC promised a better life for all but has delivered more unemployment and more poverty. 

Johannesburg has a new mayor except he is not so new having served as mayor before. He is Dada Morero of the ANC, who served as mayor for 25 days in 2022.  The city has had four mayors in the past three years. Here’s hoping this fellow can get some of the critically necessary jobs done. This is Siwela’s take on the huge job lying ahead of the mayor, from Monday’s Citizen:

Leon Schreiber is our new Minister of Home Affairs. He is from the DA and what a difference he is making. In the last three months, the Department of Home Affairs has cleared 50% of its 306,000 visa backlog, as well as other permits. Schreiber pointed out that all systems must be digitalised as soon as possible so as to obviate the chances of human discretion in the awarding of documents like IDs etc. He also pointed out that his department is in a systemic crisis with only 40% of the required staff able to do what is necessary. The GNU has lots to do but already it is working! 

The ANC Premier of Gauteng (Transvaal to you) Panyaza Lesufi was in deep discussion with the provincial leaders of his party at their provincial legotla earlier this week. He made the point that the ANC is a sinking ship. He told his audience to listen to the voters. Good point but isn’t it already too late?

Some good news is that SA enjoyed a good trading month last month. Also there is now a good chance that interest rates will come down next month if trading continues on this path. That will make it easier for households to keep pace with rising high cost of living. Then yesterday we heard that our inflation rate has come down to 4.5% for the first time in years. This probably confirms the expected interest rate cut next month.

Some more good news is that SA spent R10 million less on diesel to keep our lights on than it did last year. Half of the managers at our various power stations have been sacked and our lights have been since on since April.   After 17 years of power outages it is just so wonderful not to have to worry about clearing the fridge or being able to boil the kettle.

The rugby test against Australia on Saturday in Perth was different in as much as the Coach, Oom Dawie, Corrie & Elise, the world champion and Richard (with us from Sydney for a few days) watched not on the couch but in the Clubhouse with 30 others. The game was exciting and the Springboks, with mostly their second  stringers being tried out, won again which made us all happy.

The next morning (Perth time) saw our Dricus du Plessis retain his UFC title. Etzebeth and Kolisi accompanied him into the ring and the other Springboks were in the audience. The sport, essentially boxing, wrestling and kick-boxing all together is not something that I choose to watch, but our papers are still making a great deal of this win.

The Premiership season is upon us. It has been a long break but by Monday night when Spurs played Leicester all the teams had played their first games. Spurs looked good but wasted too many chances and had to be satisfied with a 1-1 draw.

As always,

Gerald    

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