Molupe Pheko, who was, until recently, the suspended CEO of the Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation, has submitted what must rank as one of the shortest resignations by a public official.
On Wednesday, he sent a letter to the corporation’s board chairman containing a single line — if you exclude the date, addressee and obligatory greeting.
“I hereby resign from the position of Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect.”
No reasons, no reflection on his time at the corporation. Just “I’m gone”. And his “immediate” wasn’t quite the same as our on-leave police minister Senzo Mchunu’s version because, when journalists tried to call him for comment, he couldn’t be reached on his number.
However, it was the reaction to the news of his resignation by the body investigating corruption claims against him that left Hogarth amused.
Asked what the resignation meant for its probe into the allegations against Pheko, directorate on corruption and economic offences spokesperson Matlhokomelo Senoko told a reporter: “The case is not dead because the suspect is still alive…”
The dress that will still be in the wash
Knowing that water & sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina usually goes out of her way to get her traditional gown ready ahead of the state of the nation address, Hogarth wonders what happened to the dress when President Cyril Ramaphosa decided to pull her and co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Velenkosi Hlabisa from the ceremony to attend to the water crisis in Joburg.
At least with Hlabisa, he always wears the same suit to such events and only changes his shirt and tie. But Majodina? Will we see her in a colourful umbhaco when she participates in the Sona debate this week?
Not hot off the press
Speaking of the red-carpet fashion show that takes place before the president addresses the nation in parly, Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi confessed his dislike for such pageantry and said he always tries to arrive “super last minute” and sneak into the House.
Hogarth, however, suspects that the former newspaperman fears arriving on the red carpet and being mistaken for a member of the fourth estate there to conduct interviews because he hasn’t quite shaken off that Business Day journalist look.
The great Sona no-show no-show
There was much anticipation in parliament when the National Assembly speaker’s office announced that Jacob Zuma, after a long time boycotting SONA, was to attend 2026’s proceedings. Parliament also announced that, due to prior commitment, Zuma’s predecessor Thabo Mbeki had notified the legislature he would not be able to make it.
This resulted in the Nkandla Crooner’s supporters falsely claiming that the Pipe-smoking Duke of Idutywa was scared of being in the same room as his former friend and successor after he recently, basically, called him a “counter revolutionary”. In the end, both men were no-shows as McBuffalo addressed the nation.
So, when it emerged the next day that Mbeki had just arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to attend an AU heads of state summit to be addressed by, among others, Ramaphosa, Zuma’s right-hand man Magasela Mzobe, who has developed a really good sense of humour lately, reacted: “We might just arrive tomorrow afternoon”.
From MI5 to 007½
After all the fuss related to his reluctance to appear before the ad hoc committee investigating police capture by criminal cartels, the man who may or may not be a foreign spy finally presented himself before the parliamentarians.
Why MPs from across political parties were convinced they could break him down with questions to the point where Paul O’Sullivan would admit to being a foreign agent, beats Hogarth. Maybe our lawmakers have watched too much television. During a confused exchange about O’Sullivan’s claim that he once was with British military intelligence actually meaning he was MI6 or MI5, Hogarth really feared one of them was going to ask if he had worked with James Bond.
If he were an English spy he would have been more of the Johnny English type, based on the tall tales O’Sullivan told the committee.
A tale of two Nkosis
Meanwhile, at the Madlanga commission, the star of the show this week must be Thulani Magagula — an Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) investigator.
His evidence at times had the no-nonsense commissioners in stitches, even when he was addressing serious subjects.
Trying to distinguish between two police sergeants with the surname Nkosi who had been mentioned during the commission’s proceedings, Magagula said: “There is Sergeant Nkosi who was here at the commission. Not the Sergeant Nkosi of the bag [alleged to have contained illicit money] … The other sergeant who said [while testifying at the commission months earlier]: ‘My commander doesn’t have b@$$s’ was the one who was assisting us.”
Judge Madlanga and his colleagues could not contain themselves.
His Majesty declares ... everything
AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo’s association with the Israeli government seems to have made him believe he has Goliath-like powers to bring down administrations merely by raising his arm. This week, after apparently dumping Julius Malema’s EFF to join the much smaller ATM, he unilaterally declared the ousting of ANC councillors running most of the wards in Mthatha and other areas falling under AbaThembu rule. He also announced that he had removed Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane from his post.
It is either that Tel Aviv has promised him heavy artillery to remove democratically elected councillors and a premier, or the cannabis in the former Transkei is getting even stronger these days.
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