Siyahleba | Zuma accuses ANC of white influence, yet holds meetings with white people

VOICES

Jacob Zuma, the leader of uMkhonto weSizwe Party, goes around preaching to supporters that he wants to form a black alliance of parties, suggesting that, under Cyril Ramaphosa, the ANC is controlled by white interests.

But what he does not tell those supporters is that, under the cover of darkness, he goes to meet white people for unknown reasons. Last week, he addressed a group of mostly Afrikaner businesspeople and even performed his popular song Umshini wami, but was met by silent stares from his audience. 

Ever since Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota broke down at a press conference and started crying, we all knew the party was finished.

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All that’s left is a shell. But Lekota, in possibly his last elections, has recruited traditional leaders who want to change South Africa to a monarchy while we do away with politicians.

For Lekota, it is a long way from when he was an activist alongside Steve Biko, the black consciousness leader. His precipitous fall to wanting to do away with our hard-won democracy can only mean it’s time for him to give up and retire.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa is a wily politician who has been around the block. This week he was proud as a peacock when a story he has long tried to highlight – that of Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s alleged corruption – dominated the news cycle.

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But on Friday morning he became a bit overconfident and tweeted that she had been arrested and was waiting to appear in court. News-hungry 24-hour TV channels naïvely rebroadcast the arrest claim, without checking.

Imagine their embarrassment when it emerged that Mapisa-Nqakula was at home, sipping tea. But Holomisa didn’t mind keeping the story front of news.