Hogarth: 11 December 2011

11 December 2011 - 03:16 By Hogarth
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Hogarth does not suffer fools lightly and is compulsive reading for the millions of South Africans who share this intolerance.

LOW REGARD: Willem Heath
LOW REGARD: Willem Heath

Politics is not for sissies or a judge with an axe to grind

ADVOCATE Willem Heath's assault on Thabo Mbeki has sorely exposed his lack of political acumen. It's one thing to have a chuckle with the lads over a pint and another thing to put your dodgy theories out in the public domain where they can be pulled to pieces.

What amazes Hogarth is how easily Heath's past utterances have been forgotten. In a 2005 question and answer session with our very own Chris Barron, Heath appeared to hold Zuma in very low regard.

To whit:

BARRON: "Was President Thabo Mbeki justified in firing Zuma?"

HEATH: "Yes, I think so, most definitely. In addition to that, I would say that in any democratic society Zuma would have resigned."

But now you're happy to take a job from someone you hold in such low esteem?

Helen in da house

NOT one to care much about politically correct decorum and that sort of stuff, Hogarth was pleasantly surprised this week to find out that neither do the politicians who serve in the Western Cape provincial legislature.

Here, DA leader and Western Cape premier Helen Zille leads the howling from the front, between fiddling with her phone and typing on her laptop while the house is in session. When ANC strongman Mcebisi Skwatsha tried to drive home a point, Zille became the chief heckler: "Hlala phansi Mcebisi" (sit down Mcebisi), she shouted down the ex-Western Cape ANC chairman, to the amusement of the DA side of the house.

Oops. Bad joke, minister

OUR squeaky-voiced Minister of Agriculture, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, must have raised her boss President Jacob Zuma's temperature on Wednesday when she told a meeting attended by the president and former UN chief Kofi Annan that the word "razzmatazz" was the favourite term used by South Africans to describe excitement.

Maybe the fact that Zuma's arch-nemesis, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, is referred to as "Mr Razzmatazz" explained the president's failure to chuckle at this joke.

Follow the money

HOGARTH is impressed that Jacob Zuma's administration has finally acted against the wanton financial maladministration of three regional administrations, including woeful Limpopo province.

What is odd is that it took him so long. For years his administration turned a blind eye while tenderpreneurs like Julius Malema got contracts that failed to deliver.

Could it be that this is being done to cut off Malema's major source of patronage?

Crisis hits Eastern Cape

AMONG the errant administrations targeted for overhaul is that of the Eastern Cape.

Hogarth was astonished to read in the Daily Dispatch that "three-quarters of all Eastern Cape government contracts are awarded to companies owned by state officials and their families", according to Auditor-General Terence Nombembe.

Apparently government officials are holding a crisis meeting this weekend. They urgently want to find out how they missed out on the other 25%.

From outcast to suck-up

HOGARTH hears ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe was in Zimbabwe this week at the Zanu-PF conference. The former trade unionist, who was once barred from entering Zimbabwe because he and his then comrades at Cosatu were critical of Uncle Bob, was all praise for Zanu-PF.

He told delegates that the ANC was willing to assist the party win Zimbabwe's next presidential elections: "We are willing to assist in coming up with election messages and strategies that would deliver victory. You should now start sending the materials to us so that we could work on them," he said.

But hold on, isn't this the same Mantashe who encouraged the ANC to charge Wee Julius for publicly preferring Uncle Bob over loverboy Morgan?

Perhaps, like Wee Juju, Mantashe is hoping for a Zanu-PF cattle donation.

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