Hogarth was minding his own business in the Johannesburg CBD when news broke that the sheriff of the court was outside Luthuli House, ready to seize whatever he could — even Baba kaDuduzane’s long-lost mshini wam if possible — to compensate for the former liberation movement’s R109m debt to that company with a misspelt name — Ezulweni Investments.
He abandoned his joy juice and rushed to Pixley ka Seme Street expecting to see heroic MK veterans — miraculously all still in their 20s, despite the fact that the ANC’s military wing was disbanded 30 years ago this month — putting up barricades in defence of the revolutionary house.
Memories of Jackie Selebi and spy boss Billy Masetlha rushing to protect the ruling party’s HQ when it was said to be on fire in 2006 still fresh in his mind, Hogarth expected drama. He had also not forgotten how, in early 2007, a rumour that the Scorpions were about to raid Luthuli House in pursuit of arms deal evidence caused scores of former combatants and off-duty VIP bodyguards to rush to the city centre — ready to form a human shield in protection of the National Democratic Revolution.
But alas, as the mini-Obama from Dobsonville once said — ayisafani, the ANC is no longer the same. Hogarth found hardly anyone there ready to risk life and limb in defence of Luthuli House’s threadbare rugs and trinkets. Most of those in attendance were idle bystanders, probably wondering, as Hogarth was, why a party led by a dollar billionaire — and boasting many more millionaire comrades — could not just grab some cash out the sofa to pay off the debt.
Juju’s lesson in logic
While the ruling party battles the bailiffs, its opponents are battling to oust it from power. One former staunch defender of the revolutionary house, Julius Malema, was in KwaZulu-Natal this week in hopes of winning votes. Apparently the road to voters’ hearts in that province is via the Zulu king. And so, like ANC, IFP and ActionSA politicians before him, the faux socialist had to pause to pay allegiance to His Majesty before resuming his glorious revolution and the fight for a classless society.
Now Hogarth is no Marxist, but he hung around enough would-be revolutionaries in his school days to know Juju is leading the masses to anything but an egalitarian utopia. Just after meeting the head honcho of the Zulu aristocracy, Malema gushed with praise for the royal leader. There was no conflict between the EFF’s call for state ownership of all land in South Africa and the fact that the Zulu monarch controls most “tribal” land in the region because, wait for it, “the king is the state”.
In the 20th century, the European Reds used to be accused of popularising the motto: “The people are the party and the party is the state, the state is the leader and therefore the leader is the people.”
Now in this century, the leader of our local reds is basically saying that King Misuzulu is the people!
A voice from political asylum
Hogarth admires Juju’s tenacity in his pursuit of the KwaZulu-Natal vote though. Pundits tend to make it seem like a three-horse race down there between the ANC, the IFP and the DA. But the EFF boss is having none of it; his party, too, he seems to think, will have a say in who gets to govern the province come the 2024 elections.
Now Hogarth is no Marxist, but he hung around enough would-be revolutionaries in his school days to know Juju is leading the masses to anything but an egalitarian utopia
His approach, it would appear, is to go after the province’s main parties — especially the ANC and the IFP. He had IFP leaders hot under their collars… Wait, speaking of collars, why is the IFP mayor of the Zululand District Municipality, Thulasizwe Buthelezi, always next to the Zulu king when he meets leaders of other political parties?
But Hogarth digresses. Back to the story: Juju had the IFP leaders hot under their collars when he claimed that wherever the party governs there is financial mismanagement and sex-for-jobs scandals.
But the IFP’s legendary founder, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, had obviously prepared his protégé Mkhuleko Hlengwa well for such attacks.
“Over the past few hours, we have been inundated with media inquiries to react to utterances by EFF leader Julius Malema at a rent-a-crowd event held in Pietermaritzburg this past weekend,” Hlengwa said in a statement. “As a general rule asiwuphenduli umsangano [we do not respond to madness].”
Short, sweet and drooling with Shenge sarcasm.
Bring more parachutes
In the pages of this newspaper last week it was revealed that there is a strong push, mainly by rich business personalities, to have former banker Roger Jardine lead the opposition endeavour to oust the ANC at the polls next year. Jardine was said to have already met John Steenhuisen to discuss possible common ground with the DA and its partners in the multiparty charter.
Now Hogarth doesn’t know how big business decides on these things, but wasn’t Herman Mashaba parachuted in to the DA not that long ago to perform the same role? Or does the latest move reflect tacit acceptance that Mashaba, like Mmusi Maimane before him and Mamphela Ramphele before that, is a failed project?
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