Opinion

Lies are the lie of the land in SA

05 June 2018 - 09:00 By tom eaton
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Jeff Radebe when he was sworn as the minister of Justice and Constitutional Development in 2009.
Jeff Radebe when he was sworn as the minister of Justice and Constitutional Development in 2009.
Image: ALEXANDER JOE / AFP

On Sunday evening‚ Jeff Radebe told eNCA that there is no deal with Russia to build nuclear power stations in South Africa.

I imagine that moments later‚ wild celebrations broke out all over the Kremlin‚ with Vladimir Putin sending a case of caviar to the head office of Rosatom with a handwritten note wishing staff a safe flight to Waterkloof.

After all‚ this is the same Jeff Radebe who told us that the Seriti Commission wasn’t a whitewash of the Arms Deal. The same Jeff Radebe who explained that the renovations at Nkandla were totes legit. The same Jeff Radebe who told Jacob Zuma it was a great idea to make Menzi Simelane the head of the National Prosecuting Authority – an appointment described by the Supreme Court of Appeal as “irrational” and “unconstitutional”.

Yes‚ Jeff has a said a lot of things over the years‚ like in 2014 when he told us that Zuma would complete his second term as president‚ or like in 2015 when he stood up to defend the Gangster-in-Chief against a vote of no confidence‚ citing the R1-trillion the Zuma administration had spent on infrastructure.

OK‚ yes‚ quite a lot of that was spent on fire pools and Gupta trains that didn’t fit on our rails and dairy farms in the Free State and keeping the Saxonwold armoured personal carrier oiled‚ but it’s all infrastructure‚ right?

At the end of his passionate defence – few politicians have sung as sweetly for their supper as our Jeff – he told the opposition to calm down about the prospect of removing Zuma.

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