A new king for Nkandla?
In all the years he has known him, Hogarth has never taken the Nkandla Crooner for a soccer fanatic. Yes, he did play for a team or two on Robben Island, but there wasn’t much else to do there for entertainment.
Over the three decades of his freedom, Baba kaDuduzane has hardly ever spent his free time watching the beautiful game. In fact, Hogarth recalls that Jacob Zuma saw more live soccer during the 2010 World Cup than in his entire life.
So it was a bit of a surprise for Hogarth to see video footage of Msholozi braving the evening cold and celebrating with other VIPs at the Afcon semifinal between Morocco and Nigeria in Morocco. What surprised Hogarth more, given Zuma’s close ties with Nigerian leaders such as Atiku Abubakar and Goodluck Jonathan during his tenure as deputy president and president in successive ANC governments, is that the MK Party leader seemed genuinely ecstatic at Morocco winning the penalty shootout.
Then Hogarth remembered the old man had met the Moroccan monarch a few months ago in the hope this would lead to financial support for MKP.
Was all that dancing and celebrating part of your singing for your supper, Baba?
No accounting, no accountability
Judging by a letter Msholozi wrote to MK Party treasurer-general Mpiyakhe Limba discharging him from his duties, money really is too tight to mention at the MKP.
Among the charges Zuma levelled at Limba was that, in the eight months he had served in the position, Limba had failed “to budget and allocate expenditure”, and that he lacked “financial discipline [and his conduct was] characterised by unorthodox and random transactions … which end up depleting funds prematurely”.
Zuma further points to “self-admission by [the treasurer-general] at Beverly Hills Hotel [Umhlanga] … that he is not qualified in the field of finance or treasury-related discipline”. Which only begs the question, “Why did Zuma appoint him in the first place?”
Xenophobic, sort of
The letter also reveals that, perhaps out of desperation, Limba then contracted the principal of one of the MK Party’s auditing firms to serve also as its CFO. “This is a serious issue [that] should not have happened. Besides, the organisation’s finances should not be left in the hands of consultants/outsiders … This act has compromised not only MKP but [also] the integrity of the hired CFO himself.”
You know you have really messed up when even Zuma sees something ethically wrong with your conduct.
Lots of axing by party of spears
Limba’s axing resulted in yet another leadership reshuffle in the MK Party. Now in Limba’s place is former Eskom and Transnet boss Brian Molefe. Also ousted from her post as chief whip is Colleen Makhubele, who was reinstated in the role just a few months ago, after she had been fired by former party parliamentary leader John Hlophe. Hlophe was then suspended for removing Makhubele. But even though Msholozi now agrees with Hlophe that Makhubele is not fit for the post, it is by no means a given that Hlophe will be reinstated anytime soon.
What a mess! Just imagine if MKP had its way and gained control of the KwaZulu-Natal government: we would probably be on premier number 16 by now, despite not being even halfway through the full five-year term.
Don’t guy with me, umfaan
Speaking of the KZN premiership, the decision by the National Freedom Party (NFP) to withdraw from the IFP-led government of provincial unity (GPU) is now causing ructions in NFP ranks. Party leader Ivan Barnes ended up in a fist fight with NFP regional leader Nqoba Dlamini, who is opposed to the decision to pull out of the GPU.
When Dlamini was asked by a reporter how his difference of opinion with Barnes degenerated into argy-bargy, Hogarth expected a profound political answer.
But none was forthcoming. It would seem that, in the province with both a name and surname, some men do not take kindly to being referred to as “guys”.
“As we arrived, Mr Barnes called us ‘guys’. As old as I am, you can see I am not a child. I warned him not to call us ‘guys’ because we are grown-ups. When you address people, you [should] call them by their surnames … Later he wanted to fight me, but this thing of fighting I am very familiar with, as I grew up in rural areas.”
Perhaps the NFP needs some diversity and cultural sensitivity training for its leaders?
Short hop from Greenland to Norway
Hogarth colleagues who attended township schools in the bad old days of the 1980s tell him of the bully who would sit next to the brightest kid in the class, copy that pupil’s answers during exams, and then insist on being recognised as a top academic achiever, even though everyone knew the title was not deserved.
US President Donald Trump — who accepted a Nobel Peace Prize from Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, even though the award is not transferable — would have felt right at home with the township bullies of yore.
As the Nobel Peace Centre later said of Machado gifting Trump her award, “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot.”
We can only pray Potus doesn’t end up abducting the entire centre in Oslo in a bid to force it to give him the title.
You never know with the US boss these days.
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