Exploitation Inc rules SA

Is there another country in the world where politics and comedy coexist like they do in South Africa?

The "pay back the money" demands in parliament and the " give us the tapes" chants outside court are cause célèbres of no real significance.

We want the president to pay back part of the R246-million spent on his Nkandla homestead - then he can retire to live in peaceful splendour.

Yet R246-million is peanuts compared to the billions foreign companies plunder from the country .

What happened after the Marikana massacre? There were words of outrage, but in the end the matter was left to be decided by a commission of inquiry. And Lonmin will, in my opinion, simply be let off the hook.

Much of the proceedings are a sideshow. We might have laughed at the accusations that flew between Advocate Dali Mpofu and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

But it is no laughing matter that dozens died and that Ramaphosa owned a minority share of Lonmin.

All that will happen after the strikes is that massive retrenchments will follow because the platinum producers need to boost their profits. Politicians will make a few noises, just to contain the situation. And the exploitation will continue.

The government will try to wash its hands of the blood, but it is culpable. The government was in charge of the state police machinery that pulled the trigger.

To add to this sort of farce, the cast of Generations recently embarked on a strike, demanding massive salaries and a host of perks.

The Marikana workers were not striking so they could have personal trainers and dieticians.

Generations does not contribute 18% to the GDP, like the mining sector .

Yet Cosatu has called for a Generations boycott in solidarity with these "exploited actors" who have cruelly been denied a life of bling. This is the divide between opulence and people's real needs.