The axe has finally fallen on Nhlamulo Ndhlela as MK Party spokesperson. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Some party insiders say it had long been coming and the only reason he survived as long as he did was because of his close ties to Baba’s favourite daughter, Dududzile.
But the real story here was the reason for his firing.
A few days before the announcement, Ndhlela had convened a media conference attended by, among others, Baba kaDuduzile himself. Ndhlela read out a statement that effectively announced a leadership coup within the party. A structure called the MK Institute — run by himself, deputy party leader John Hlophe and a few others — was going to be in charge, and the party was going to transform itself into “a liberation movement”.
The octogenarian Nkandla Crooner sat there quietly as Ndhlela read the statement — giving everyone the impression that he endorsed everything his spokesperson was saying.
But two days later another media conference was called, this time by party secretary-general Sibonelo Nomvalo. Ndhlela’s announcement had not been sanctioned by the party, he said. Although the Nkandla Crooner had joined Ndhlela at the event, he hadn’t known what his lackey was going to say, Nomvalo continued.
In short, Nomvalo’s party leader — now 84 — apparently slept through an attempted coup within the party.
And this is the man the MK Party wants to return to office as the country’s president?
Musical chairs makes a great party
Most unhappy about Ndhlela’s axing was Baba’s favourite daughter. Grenade, as Duduzile calls herself these days, took to Elon Musk’s platform to declare her close friend “the sacrificial lamb”.
“History Will Absolve You!!!” she said.
History could be much sooner than we think. This being Jacob Zuma’s party, Hogarth would not be surprised if in a couple of weeks those who convinced the Nkandla Crooner to fire Ndhlela find themselves out in the cold and Ndhlela installed as the new secretary-general.
In the MK Party, having a title means you need to sleep with one eye open.
How to catch a falling star
But Duduzile was gracious enough to warmly welcome Ndhlela’s successor as party spokesperson, Sifiso Mahlangu, a former staffer at the ANN7 Gupta outlet who more recently occupied the editor’s chair at The Star, that pinprick of light in the Iqbal Survé galaxy.
“Since 16 Dec 2023, you have been behind the scenes from our first communications meeting 18th Dec 2023,” she tweeted on X.
A genuine compliment, or a deliberate attempt by Duduzile to expose the former editor’s dual role? You be the judge.
Life is too short
Parliament has started deliberations on forming an impeachment committee to investigate President Cyril Ramaphosa over Phala Phala. With the Buffalo seemingly determined to resort to every legal trick in the book to halt or delay the process, opposition MPs are determined that the National Assembly does not get sucked into his strategy.
But the DA’s new parliamentary leader, George Michalakis, took things a bit far when warning against delays.
“I’ll be dead” before the impeachment process gets under way, the 38-year-old told his colleagues. A master of hyperbole, this new DA appointee is turning out to be.
A leopard-skin MAGA cap
Meanwhile, in the so-called land of the free, the Orange One has effectively granted his family and friends what looks like immunity from past and future tax sins.
A settlement agreed between Donald Trump and his own government’s Internal Revenue Service and attorney general reads in part: “The US releases, waives, acquits and forever discharges each of the plaintiffs [Trump & Co] from, and is hereby forever barred and precluded from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all the claims, counterclaims, causes of action, appeals, or requests for any relief ... whether presently known or unknown...” and on and on ad nauseum.
Who said Zaire’s Mobutu Sese Seko has no peers when it comes to abuse of power?
Hanky ... or a white flag?
Deputy President Paul Mashatile was in the National Assembly on Thursday, responding to questions about ethics and what to do, for example, when one’s wife receives the gift of a diamond.
With recent reports that Mashatile’s friends and family had benefited from government tenders fresh in their minds, opposition MPs raised some awkward issues. So much so that DA parliamentary leader George Michalakis thought he spotted some perspiration on the deputy president’s brow.
“Honourable Speaker, I see the deputy president is sweating a bit, can I offer him a handkerchief?” Michalakis asked on a point of order.
“That is not a point of order… He will accept it if he wants to,” responded Speaker Thoko Didiza.
“Don’t worry, member, I have my own,” said a giggling Mashatile as he waved his own handkerchief.
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