WeeklySA_AdminANIMAL FARM: Ramaphosa’s new addition to his animal kingdom is causing untold misery and heartache among his comrades
with Sy Makaringe
Mzansi, shed a tear for poor Angie Motshekga! The erstwhile Minister of Basic Education has never been the same ever since the gnu, that large and ugly African antelope with horns similar to those of an ox and a long tufted tail, invaded South Africa’s political space after the 2024 general elections and turned our lives upside down.
Matsie Angelina’s woes began when Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, a famous Mzansi farmer who sometimes moonlights as South Africa’s president, decided to refresh his private collection of prized animals, including buffaloes and Ankole cattle, by throwing in the gnu in his animal farm, instead of coming up with innovative ideas to take the country out of the current morass.
The controversial move led to so much disruption, heartache and gnashing of teeth among many of his comrades in the ANC.
Poor Sihle Zikalala, for example, found himself having to, for the first time in his life, report to a baas after Ramaphosa demoted him from being Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure to deputise for DA’s one Dean MacPherson in the same ministry. Surely, Zikalala did not struggle to take orders from a white fellow, especially a guy from the custodians of white monopoly capital.
As for Angie, the sharp winds that the gnu generated swept her off her Basic Education comfort zone in the heart of Pretoria and tossed her into Erasmuskloof, in the outskirts of the administrative capital, where she masquerades as Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.
Having spent a whopping15 years as Minister of Basic Education, the former teacher and lecturer is evidently out of her depths at Defence. She has effectively been reduced to a cheque collector as she spends most of her time twiddling her thumbs and watching the clock. Supervising soldiers during peacetime can be a very boring job. It can be equated to watching a paint dry.
To his credit, though, the Buffalo Soldier last week took Angie out of her miseries and assigned her to officiate at a bridge handover function at faraway Enkangala, Mpumalanga – probably her first high-profile public appearance since her appointment six months ago.
Looking emaciated – as opposed to being emancipated – Angie seemed extremely excited at not only having been given the opportunity to breathe in some fresh air at last, but also at being handed something to do to justify her hefty ministerial salary, no matter how modest the task might be.
JA-BAAS MAN
IF you feel sorry for Sihle Zikalala, wait until you hear the full story of former EFF Deputy President Floyd Shivambu’s rise in Nxamalala’s uMkhonto we Sizwe Party.
A self-proclaimed custodian of “superior logic” and the undisputed brains behind the formation of the EFF, Shivambu has always been known for his radicalism, a no-nonsense posture, out-of-the-box thinking and holy cow slaying.
But ever since he joined uBaba’s MKP, Shivambu has suddenly developed the ja-baas mentality, exhibiting characteristics of a pliant leader who is prepared to rubberstamp any decision, no matter how irrational it might be, as long as it has been taken by Msholozi, the Supreme Leader.
For Shivambu, everything that Jacob Zuma does goes.
After Zuma opportunistically claimed “conferences are fake”, Shivambu uncharacteristically agreed with him, telling City Press the MKP “will not convene elective conferences because we know what these can do to undermine our unity and progress as an organisation”.
Seriously now?
One of the biggest critics of State Capture during his EFF days, Shivambu now shares Zuma’s views denying there had been looting in a grand scale in South Africa by his Gupta friends.
Shivambu has proved to be a modern-day ja-baas man, with no guts to contradict some of the nonsensical views his boss spews out.
In an interview with Newzroom Afrika last month, Shivambu shocked many people who admired his intellect when he said: “… all of that State Capture nonsense was just fiction that was meant to bastardise and to scare off those who were in pursuit of radical economic transformation.
“We call on the people of South Africa to realise that we were misled for a very long time, with so many lies,” he said.
Really now?
The last straw was when Shivambu, in his capacity as MKP general secretary, endorsed a letter penned by his Supreme Leader axing the party’s Mpumalanga’s convener, Mary Phadi, from all her positions based on trumped-up charges and without following due process.
Will the real Floyd Shivambu please return to reality? All is forgiven.
MALEMA ON MALEMA
EVERYONE who has heard, met or seen EFF leader Julius Malema knows that he is emphatic, unambiguous and unapologetic when it comes to the consequences that he thinks must be unleashed against politicians who are caught with their fingers in the cookie jar.
One of the people the firebrand politician wants axed and prosecuted is the new Minister of Human Settlements, Thembi Simelane, who has been accused of improperly receiving a R500 000 loan from Ralliom Razwinane, a businessman linked to the collapse VBS Bank, when she was Mayor of Polokwane.
Malema has fingered out everyone, from former President Jacob Zuma to sitting president Cyril Ramaphosa, who he thinks must account for their indiscretions.
The only person Julius Malema has not called out to answer is Julius Malema, who is being investigated by the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI) or the Hawks after allegedly receiving millions of rands siphoned off from VBS and allegedly channelled to him through a slush fund.
EISH, THIS INGRISH
“She was held captive against her will.” – Nasiphi Same, Newzroom Afrika’s senior reporter after three Burundian nationals appeared in the Wynberg Magistrates Court in Cape Town to apply for bail after they were arrested in connection with the alleged attempted rape of a 14-year-old girl as well as kidnapping, extortion and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
■ Fun Galore will reappear in your favourite on line newspaper in January 2025.
