A generally short fuse
People have been wondering why Gen Bantu Holomisa has gone so quiet since joining McBuffalo’s GNU dinner table. Some have suggested the former Transkei military ruler is just displaying good manners; people like him who went to good Bantu schools know one shouldn’t talk with one’s mouth full.
These snide remarks about his silence appear to have finally gotten under the UDM leader’s skin. When a caller to a Durban regional station, Gagasi FM, criticised him on Thursday for coming across as arrogant when answering questions, the general couldn’t contain himself.
Holomisa: “That’s a compliment if you say I’m arrogant. Thank you. Bye bye.”
Caller: “We don’t need these people in the station because they can’t answer questions, yet we voted for them to be there...”
Holomisa (interjecting): “You didn’t vote for me, don’t talk lies. Thank you very much. Don’t vote for me, go to hell.”
The programme host, Alex Mthiyane, urged the deputy minister and Transkei coup leader to show some restraint. “General, I know you have to respond because he is attacking you, but you have just used a line, ‘go to hell’, I am going to ask you to retract that particular phrase.”
Holomisa: “I am not going to do that and if you are not satisfied, go to hell nawe… You don’t protect me [when callers are rude].”
After further exchanges in this vein, Mthiyane cut the interview short.
Hogarth is not one for coups and similarly undemocratic means of changing leadership, but he does think it is time UDM deputy leader Nqabayomzi Kwankwa did something to encourage the 70-year-old general, who cofounded the UDM in 1997, to ride off into the sunset.
A hellishly one-track mind
Hogarth cannot claim to have been surprised by Holomisa’s responses. After all, when someone reminded him on a social media site of the mess he had made when trying to read off a teleprompter during a live television broadcast, the general responded: “Go to hell. Was I in charge of their teleprompter?”
On a different occasion, when his beloved Kaizer Chiefs was on a losing streak and a caller on a show asked if he still supported the club, the general answered: “Unxilile loyo obuza lo mbuzo” (the one who is asking me that question is drunk).
Shoot the messengers
Hogarth was amused to learn that the ANC plans to take disciplinary action against two of its national executive committee members, suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu and Gupta fanboy Malusi Gigaba.
Their crime? Mchunu warned that the ruling party will be toast in 2029 if it does not do well in next year’s local government election, while Gigabyte accused the NEC of having “lost direction”.
But hasn’t everyone in the ANC been saying the same things for the past five years or so? Is what Gigabyte said so gross that it requires disciplinary action when president Cyril Ramaphosa himself noted the obvious a few years ago, admitting the party was “accused No 1” when it came to corruption?
Or is this all just Fikile Mbalula’s way of silencing potential rivals in the ANC leadership contest?
In need of higher education
Like many South Africans, Hogarth was pleased to learn that Buti Manamela had finally made it as a full cabinet minister after spending just over a decade being shuffled around in deputy minister posts. But it appears that the young man who is allergic to combing his hair hasn’t learnt much from the scandal that toppled his gum-chewing predecessor, Nobuhle Nkabane.
Manamela has destroyed all the public goodwill that followed his appointment as higher education minister by appointing three politically connected personalities as administrators of troubled sector education & training authorities. If he is not careful, he will soon be known as Nkabane 2.0 and his stint as a minister much shorter than he might have expected.
Sound, fury and silence
About two weeks ago, the Nkandla Crooner gave McBuffalo an ultimatum to resign by 10am the following Friday, failing which drastic action would ensue. But McBuffalo failed to do so, and there has not been a peep from Nkandla.
Could it be that soon after issuing the ultimatum, Baba kaDuduzane was distracted by the demands of curating his livestock and simply forgot about the whole affair?
Ultimatums aren’t what they used to be.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.