Oom Krisjan has noticed that those who kept the red flag flying here have been rather quiet of late. In fact, there’s been a suspicion that they’ve all turned into creditcard-carrying communists, what with central committee member Jeff Radebe being in the vanguard of the privatisation drive and Jabu Moleketi rapidly turning Gauteng into the true capitalist heart of Africa.
So Lemmer wasn’t surprised when the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) this week appeared to reveal the true colours of its alliance partner.
Cosatu’s daily online labour news reported: ”The South African Capitalist Party (SACP) endorsed the core pillars of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.”
A couple of people must’ve choked on their Molotov cocktails, however, because the next day Cosatu was at pains to point out: ”Yesterday’s Daily News contained an unfortunate error. An article on the SACP referred to it as ‘the South African Capitalist Party’. This should of course have read ‘the South African Communist Party’. Cosatu apologises to our readers and members of the Party.” Pity.
Kort out
Keeping up with the Western Cape’s Eminem (Marais and Morkel) show can tax the most organised of organisations. That’s why the Western Cape government didn’t stand a chance when this week it published an insert in the Afrikaans daily, Die Burger, in Cape Town extolling the virtues of the relatively new African National Congress/New National Party rulers.
With one of the strap headlines advertising that the administration was ”a government of unity”, it also carried a picture of the new set of grandees — with Peter Marais sitting proudly in the centre of his 12-person cabinet. To make matters worse, next to the axed premier sits former Local Government MEC Willem Doman, from the NNP, who has been demoted to the backbenches of the National Assembly. His shoes have been filled by former SABC journalist Kobus Dowry.
However, NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk — who took over the reins from Marais last Friday — makes an appearance under the main picture as the nuwe premier promising that his government would be ”for all the people of the province”.
Save our sleep
Lemmer was still recovering from ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama’s praise-singing last week about he who ”strides the world stage like a colossus”, when he was hit by another dose of the mbongis. Of course, he who is the ”great African giant” (in spirit if not in body) turned 60 last week. The giant is planning Africa’s renaissance, and as the continent’s sole saviour-designate, this keeps him in the news. So it was a very grumpy Oom Krisjan who was awoken from a sweet slumber on a very cold morning this week by Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana’s cries that his leader ”was a hero”. With all that praise-singing, Lemmer can only conclude we don’t need the second coming. Our saviour is already here. Hallelujah! Yawn.
Rule by remote
Since South Africa got rid of the constituency model, our politicians seem to have taken a very lax attitude to representing specific communities. Oom Krisjan hears this is particularly rife in the town of Phalaborwa, in Limpopo province near the Kruger Park. Its mayor, Joe Mathebula, and an executive council member, Velaphi Mavuso, have found the grass is greener far on the other side. They both live and work in Polokwane (née Pietersburg), more than 100km away.
Cup winner
Our cup of soccer haikus floweth over, and it took the manne many bottles of mampoer to decide on a winner. So many that we began to see double — so to end the squabbling we decided on the best two.
Margot Sennett Freedmans sent in:
No early Xmas
for Senegal — Alas their
goose cooked, not Turkey!
However, not everyone in the Dorsbult was convinced about how that scanned, so Peter Becker is this World Cup’s haiku champion:
They run, sweat, swear
Relentless
The ball goes back
and forth
Does it matter?
Baie dankie, almal.
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