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What's The Issue?

What's The Issue?

Author: Tomas Yoko
Date: 2015-07-03
Wow do we have issues this week. Starting with the mind numbing absurdity of beachgoers getting gunned down by a merciless murderer. My mind spins to blackout trying to make sense out of the sick, evil, horror that occurred in Tunisia. How can anyone justify that? Is it a provocation of war? Please stop me from getting started or I will enter into a tirade that will be regrettable.

With the smarting of emotions from that horrible event and the other terrorist events linked to them, I turned my attention to our government for relief. And there was no relief to be found. Ministers swearing like guttersnipes in Parliament and being called "Honorable Speaker"? I ask you! The news that our Government is now going to spend who knows how many millions on court proceedings to appeal the court order demanding "al-Basher", as I call him, be arrested and not allowed to leave South Africa.

Never mind the swearing like filth in Parliament, never mind extravagant legal wrangling in the face of poverty, destitution, electrical failure, water crisis, pandemics and epidemics, they will attempt to save face. It is rumoured that Gwede Mantashe would have South Africa pull out of the International Criminal Court and worse, he intimated that judgements deemed to be "inconvenient" to the state's decisions, would simply be ignored. We noticed that already.

Now that is no surprise other than the fact that he may have said such a ludicrous thing. Almost as ludicrous as our president Jacob Zuma asking the Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega, who he appointed knowing full well that she was not a policewoman, to explain to him why she is fit to hold the office he chose for her. It looks to me like the finger of blame is being directed by his own hand, at himself. To make her the 'fall guy' for Marikana just looks like history repeating itself. Jacob went directly against the National Development Plan in appointing Riah. With impunity no doubt.

Now our president can take a page out of the Greek Predident's book, I was impressed how he passed the decision to accept the totally debilitating austerity measure proposed by the EU onto his constituency. A lesser leader would have bowed to the pressure and just ladled the hardship onto his people. I wonder what Jacob would have done in this situation?

Anyway we can thank our lucky stars, or our Financial Minister of days gone by, for the fact that we still have an economy, or at least something left that still resembles an economy. For how long we can't say, but we can pray that we don't end up getting downgraded to junk status and having to go cap in hand to the IMF and the World Bank.

Now even the SACP has spoken out about regrets over making Zuma into a cult figure and light at the end of the tunnel is coming in the form of the idea of the SACP contesting the next national elections in its own name intimating that the ANC is now weak and has failed to lead the tripartite alliance appropriately. Too little too late, I hope not.