The art of mantashing
IN APRIL this year, a new phrase entered the public lexicon, thanks to wags on social media. To “mantashe” quickly came to mean to change one’s tune abruptly, after the eponymous ANC secretary-general did a surprising volte-face over President Jacob Zuma’s dramatic cabinet reshuffle.
At the weekend South Africa discovered that it was not just the ANC that can and does “mantashe”; the opposition DA can do as fine a job.
Last Saturday, the DA announced with some fanfare that disgraced national leader Helen Zille was to be suspended from the party – but not as premier of the Western Cape – over her tweets on colonialism because she had not apologised for them, pending a disciplinary inquiry into her for bringing the party into disrepute.
Many praised the DA, in particular parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane, for taking action – albeit delayed – against the once iconic Zille, who has become a highly divisive figure, a millstone dragging the party down.
No sooner had the hubbub died down than an amended note was sent out – the federal executive of the party had resolved to give Zille 72 hours’ notice of its intention to suspend her and to give her an opportunity to explain why she shouldn’t be suspended.
THERE’S a wealth of difference between the two announcements, and none of it is semantic.
Instead, it is indicative of the various power bases at play, winning crucial little battles in a longterm war. Zille is a master politician and a determined individual, much like Zuma. Neither will be going anywhere anytime soon, as Maimane would have discovered to his chagrin and the ANC’s anti-Zuma factions are relearning every day.
The art of politics is what German statesman Otto von Bismarck termed the “art of the possible”, the triumph of pragmatism over policy. The art, indeed, of “mantashing”. The court of public opinion has no relevance in the smoky back room corridors.
By Wednesday the DA’s federal executive decided to suspend Zille from the party.
We wait to see what will happen to Zuma and whether South Africans are really the victims in the political merry-go-round.