Poisonous SA politics, plus five highlights from ‘Vrye Weekblad’

Deputy President David Mabuza has in the past made regular visits to Russia for medical treatment. Most of them took place without anyone really knowing. This week, however, he officially applied for permission from President Ramaphosa to undertake his annual trip to Moscow, and it was also made public in the media. 

For someone who has disappeared from the political scene for months at a time, this sudden transparency raised some eyebrows. Would he have volunteered this information of his own volition, considering that his medical care is related to alleged poisoning plots in SA.

It is a good question as to why Ramaphosa not only played open cards with South Africans about this trip but why he also insisted that his deputy officially take leave instead of just quietly disappearing on state costs.

When the trip was announced, every cynical local political analyst raised questions about  Mabuza's “evident” distrust of the South African health system, and of course, who is paying for his expensive hypochondria.

But this is the wrong question. 

Mabuza has in fact never been sceptical about the quality of local medical expertise and was treated in a Johannesburg hospital after the alleged attempt to poison him in 2015.

The reason is more complicated – rooted in the mystery and mysticism that poisoning plays in South Africa's constitutional political landscape, and a curious and provocative logic that is almost as inexplicable as middle-class Afrikaners' obsession with Ivermectin, but also because for Mabuza, Russia is a safe space, removed from the potential influence of local poison bandits.

Read more about this, and more news and analysis in this week's Vrye Weekblad.

Must-read articles in this week’s Vrye Weekblad

>> Browse the full July 2 edition

THE WEEK IN POLITICS | Jacob Zuma in orange overalls is a liberating moment for SA, writes Max du Preez. He also celebrates two strong women, Thuli Madonsela and Sisi Khampepe, and wonders what the chances for a presidential pardon are. 

FREE TO READ – BOERE 'PROPHET' | A voice note from a self-proclaimed prophet warning people that the Covid vaccine is actually a type of “remote-kill button” to “wipe out nations” has spread like wildfire through the country. Who is behind this blatant disinformation, and why do people believe it?

NARCISSISTS EVERYWHERE | We probably all know someone like this: Almost everything they say and do is about them or making things easier and better for themselves. But recognising narcissism isn't easy, and for regular people, living with it can be hell. 

EVITA SE PERRON IS SAVED!  | Two toffee makers arrived like angels to save Evita se Perron from dying due to Covid-19. They didn't exactly descend from heaven – they came from a supermarket. 

FREE TO READ – VERWOERD'S SHOEMAKER | His father's name was actually not “Wyness” or even “Wireless”, but Fabathias Mohlakola. Mr Fabathias Mohlakola in church. Kleinbooi Mohlakola at work. We tell his story.