Not-Jimmy is now also Not-Chief-Whip. The famous political party hopper was sacked from his high-profile job in the MK Party caucus to make way for Baba kaDuduzane’s latest favourite, Colleen Makhubele.
Mzwanele Manyi’s hopping history would draw admiration from a locust: he jumped from the ANC — when it started to turn against Jacob Zuma — to the Nkandla Crooner-sympathetic ATM; from there to the EFF — when Zuma and Juju kissed and made up over tea; and then to Zuma’s MKP. Hogarth has been asked where he thinks Manyi could be headed next.
Hogarth does not pretend to be a political sangoma like Prince Mashele and will therefore offer no predictions. There is, however, one political party with historical ties to Baba kaDudu that Not-Jimmy hasn’t tried. That’s Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance. But in one of his many former roles — this time as a government official - Not-Jimmy once outrageously spoke of “an oversupply of Coloureds in the Western Cape”. So die mense in the PA would likely tell him to voetsek.
Not cold outside ANC, but hot
Which is probably why, despite the humiliating demotion, Not-Jimmy tells everyone that he is not about to leave the MKP. His continued stay, however, won’t be comfortable. He is clearly no longer in Baba’s good books and the party’s parliamentary leader, John Hlophe, still blames Not-Jimmy for making him read a long and embarrassing hagiography of the Nkandla Crooner during a state of the nation debate.
He could turn to his former EFF comrade and MKP secretary-general Floyd Shivambu for moral support, but the Gucci Sankara’s job as secretary-general isn’t safe either. Not-Jimmy may have been right to say that talk of life being “cold outside the ANC” was exaggerated, but one thing is for sure, he has learnt that it is extremely hot inside the MKP.
Don't cry John, Helen will laugh
Meanwhile, the other perennial government in waiting, the DA, took some time out on Friday to pay tribute to Douglas Gibson, a fine gentleman and former MP, who passed away recently. At the memorial service, party leader John Steenhuisen apparently spoke of how he often turned to Gibson for a shoulder to cry on when he featured in this column or made it as Mampara of the Week. Having partially watched The roast of Helen Zille on Showmax recently, Hogarth thinks it would serve John Vul’igate well to turn to her for future counsel. She is clearly much more experienced in this business of not taking oneself too seriously.
Come home to safety Elon
Across the seas in the so-called land of the brave, Elon Musk turned up at the White House for his farewell press conference with a black eye. No, he is not leaving the US to settle among his like-minded pals in Orania, he is merely leaving his dodgy role as the head of Doge, a new bureaucratic instrument created to reduce the US bureaucracy. But it was not the news of his departure that made the headlines, it was his black eye. Asked how he got the nasty bruise on his face, the billionaire blamed it on “horsing around” with his 5-year-old son “Lil X”.
Hogarth realises that the past few months have been bruising for the richest man on the planet — what with his Teslas torched, his companies hammered on the stock market and him ridiculed by the US media. But Hogarth never expected the bruises to be this visible. Maybe the rich brother must just come back home with his Starlink. We are gentler here, ubuntu people. Just as long as he abides by the laws, B-BBEE and all.
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