Gayton McKenzie changed his mind and saved Johannesburg residents the blushes of having to greet a former convict as “Mr Mayor”, but could we find ourselves calling him by an even higher political title in a not so distant future?
The Patriotic Alliance president, who until recently was mayor of the Central Karoo district in the Western Cape, confirmed this week that he has pulled out of the race to take the heavy Johannesburg mayoral chain off the inept Thapelo Amad.
His party, McKenzie said, would now rather have him going around the country attracting more electoral support for the PA instead of trying to run the City of Gold.
The news of the withdrawal would have come as a relief for many who were incredulous at the prospect of a man who served time for bank robbery becoming the first resident of the country’s richest and most famous city.
His election as Jozi’s latest mayor would have symbolised, at least in their eyes, that South Africa had really reached rock bottom or, as Inanda’s finest public intellectual and principal of the National School of Governance Busani Ngcaweni would put it, “the beer truck has overturned in broad daylight”.
Others, however, would argue that when it comes to public office, there is no longer any bar to speak of — it having been first lowered and then removed in the post-Polokwane era.
They would say it is hypocritical to be alarmed by someone who has served his time and is open about his criminal past seeking public office when the political system has long been overrun and captured by rogue career politicians who should be in jail.
Among those who recently expressed shock at the prospect of horse-trading between political parties in Johannesburg resulting in McKenzie becoming mayor is Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane.
Although he appeared to have later deleted his tweet, Maimane said letting a convicted criminal govern the city was “like allowing an alcoholic to run Tops” (the bottle store chain).
McKenzie and his supporters did not take kindly to this and took turns bashing the former DA leader, who is also a lay preacher, for not accepting that the PA leader may have changed from the person he was when he was arrested in his teenage years.
“I am not in the race for Joburg mayor any more [and] usually I wouldn’t mind such a comment but coming from a pastor it makes me feel sorry [for] the people that you share the Word of God with. You are basically saying that the Blood of Christ has no power to change my life, it lost its power,” retorted McKenzie on social media.
Whether McKenzie is a changed man is not the subject of this column.
But it says something profound about the state of our politics that a person with a history as chequered as his today stands as much chance to be the next mayor, deputy minister or a minister as any of our presumably upstanding career politicians.
Others would argue that when it comes to public office, there is no longer any bar to speak of – it having been first lowered and then removed in the post-Polokwane era
In this new age of coalition politics, where a single vote can sometimes determine who gets to govern and who gets to sit in the opposition benches, “smaller” parties such as McKenzie’s PA are increasingly finding themselves in the driving seat regardless of their history or electoral strength.
(Both the ANC and the DA may argue that they will choose their partners, in the event of a hung parliament, on the basis of principle and policy positions, but the reality is that in the end it will all boil down to numbers.)
So if you are horrified — as DA leader John Steenhuisen professes to be — by the possibility of an ANC-EFF coalition government post the 2024 elections, have you given thought to the alternative scenario in which the ANC gets into bed with the PA and other smaller parties?
It all depends on the outcomes of the polls. If the ANC falls below the 50% plus one threshold needed to form the government but retains enough votes to stay well above 40%, it may look to partner with a group of smaller parties that are not as cantankerous as the EFF.
Given the steady but impressive growth the PA has been registering in elections over the past few years, one cannot bet against the party growing its share of the electorate in the Western Cape and parts of Gauteng next year — hence strengthening its hand in the horse-trading that would likely follow at national level.
An ANC desperate to cling to power, but wary of entering into a volatile marriage with an unpredictable Julius Malema, would likely turn to the PA, the ATM and several other parties for a deal.
If that happens, McKenzie would most likely be in the pound seats — demanding cabinet positions for his party.
If you thought Johannesburg mayor McKenzie was a bad idea, there is now a real possibility that you may have to call him minister or, if things turn out really desperately for the ANC, something even more senior.
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.