/ 17 October 2016

​#CulturePop: Thuli’s dirt on Zuma and other bad behaviour

Trevor Noah hosts Chivas Regal's The Venture Final Pitch Event on July 14 in New York City.
Trevor Noah hosts Chivas Regal's The Venture Final Pitch Event on July 14 in New York City.

It will take a lot to move President Jacob Zuma. But not a national student uprising fast becoming violent – and definitely not a strong and vocal opposition in Parliament. It will take something extraordinary for our president to give one damn from the all but empty vault of damns he has to offer.

There is one extraordinary individual who is able to elicit a reaction from Zuma: former public protector Thuli Madonsela, shaker-upper of things in the presidency.

She walked into our lives and reintroduced everyday South Africans largely left out of the democratic process, to the public protector’s office. This office is responsible to the public for weeding out misconduct and corruption in the government.

Madonsela’s pioneering reign came to an end last week, but not without a bang. One headline captured it perfectly:  “State capture: The saga continues”. In a nutshell, she got some dirt on the presidency that should be made public. It could mean Zuma is forced to leave peacefully through the back door. But the president isn’t going to go down without a fight.

Be that as it may, fees still have to fall. The cops have resorted to  arresting student leader Mcebo Dlamini on charges of assaulting a police officer. The Orbit in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, was another target of the lawless fray when protesters smashed the front windows of the jazz club during a performance on Friday evening.

In international news Trevor Noah continues to be a beacon of light and sharp wit for Americans. Last week he cut into our fave, the savagely clueless Donald Trump.

The United States presidential candidate dismissed a bunch of sexist comments he’d made as “locker-room” talk, but Noah pointed out the difference between sex talk and sexual assault talk.

The problem is that the remarks Trump made weren’t all that different to the kind of actions Bill Cosby took when accused of drugging and raping a number of women. Trump, like Dr Respectability, sees nothing wrong with violating women and there aren’t enough sorries to fix that.

RuPaul, the hallowed yonce of drag queens, is said to have come forward with claims that Trump grabbed and groped him in 1995. RuPaul joins a list of people who have suffered the problematic presidential candidate’s treatment and sexual shame.

In other news, Drake and Rihanna have broken up – even though it was news to me that these two were even an item. They have been dating on-again, off-again since 2009, when Drake wasted no time moving in after Rihanna split with Chris Brown.

As musicians, the couple share a history of talking to one another through cryptic sometimes-love, sometimes-hate songs, so I should’ve known. Rihanna’s 2010 hit What’s My Name was the song that launched their whirlwind romance. Apparently Bad Girl Riri has been toying with Drake’s poor heart for years. Perhaps it just got to the point where enough was enough.

The Sanlam Handmade Contemporary Fair came around for the sixth year running and didn’t disappoint. It was an all-you-can-get bazaar with an emphasis on quality over quantity.

From Selfi’s must-have linen jumpsuits, culottes and camisoles to The Ninevites tapestries, which are made following an organic process. And it was worth breaking the bank for Maxhosa by Laduma’s sweaters and socks. The three-day fair on Hyde Park Corner’s rooftop missed not a single note, overpriced bourbon cocktails and all.