Pure baloney

FORGET about listeriosis – there seems to a bug that is affecting some very senior people in government. There is a lot about this illness that we have not yet discovered.

But what we can say for sure is that it strikes unexpectedly and is so severe it renders the person unfit for work within hours.

The latest victim is our new Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba.

On Monday, Gigaba seemed hale and hearty on Twitter, as he responded to South Africans who were complaining about the poor service they had received at various Home Affairs offices around the country.

He was also able to send his condolences via Twitter to the family of Fezeka Loliwe, who died on Monday in a car accident.

She was an ANC MP who served as the chairperson of the portfolio committee on labour.

But then, on Wednesday, Gigaba’s Twitter account went quiet, which was unusual for him.

Later, we were told by letter that he had taken ill suddenly and would not be able to answer questions in Parliament.

So serious was the illness that he could not even sign the letter.

One of the questions MPs wanted to ask Gigaba, but which they would now have to postpone, was about the role he had played in helping the Guptas become South African citizens.

Dudu Myeni also fell ill and could not make the trip to Cape Town this week. However, it is unclear whether she and Gigaba were stricken by the same illness.

The former SAA chairperson was scant on details of her illness. She also failed to provide a doctor’s note to Parliament to confirm she was not well.

A few months ago, Mosebenzi Zwane failed to turn up in Parliament to answer questions on state capture because he was apparently sick. Back then he was our Mineral Resources minister.

Bathabile Dlamini, Faith Muthambi and Des van Rooyen have also failed to turn up in Parliament to account, although it is unclear if these three were ill, or if they just saw Parliament as an irritation they’d rather do without.

What they need to know is that times have changed and their baloney will no longer be tolerated.