STRIKING A SOUR NOTE

New York is home to a number of dodgy establishments — Mckinsey among them. Luckily there’s something to sweeten the taste …

You can’t make it up. Just when you think there’s no news, the SA political and business fraternities oblige. Last week businessman Duduzane Zuma appeared in court for offering former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas a R600m bribe. Zuma’s supporters bleated that he shouldn’t have appeared in court in chains. Hawu batho! Every other suspect facing the same charges appears in chains.

I also noticed that no-one seemed to remember that Zuma had shown the parliamentary inquiry into Eskom the finger — several times — from his plush pad in Dubai.

He has been busy, young Zuma. On Thursday he appeared in court again, this time for culpable homicide. Two women died after his Porsche rammed into a taxi they were travelling in. You remember the case, of course: Zuma called the Guptas first and didn’t bother about the cops or medics. Kind guy.

Anyway, at both of Zuma’s court appearances he was “defended” by a motley crew from Black First Land First (BLF), the eight-person Gupta rent-acrowd led by Andile Mngxitama, the man who was run out of the EFF.

Here’s a question for you: why isn’t the BLF, which loves black people more than the rest of us, defending the rights of the two poor women who died in that taxi? Ah, money. Even our faux Black Consciousness activists like the moola.

I bet you in a few months’ time we’ll hear how money was wired from Dubai to a littleknown organisation here in SA.

While Zuma was walking into court, our dear friends at global consulting firm Mckinsey — they who told us Africa was rising (“Yay!” we shouted) while they allegedly collaborated with Gupta front-company Trillian to defraud Eskom of a billion bucks — finally decided they will pay back the money. But they won’t pay back the interest they earned on their ill-gotten gains, so they still end up ahead — more than R300m ahead, according to my learned friends who write for this august magazine.

What amuses me no end, though, is that if the New York Times were to write a story about this next week, Mckinsey would be falling over itself, saying it wants to pay back the interest. Why? The people who lecture us about integrity, the rule of law and fairness only follow such precepts when the folk back in the US start asking tough questions.

The whole sordid tale makes you want to see Mckinsey close shop in SA and head back to New York. So slimy.

Last week I told you about a lovely New York bistro you must pop into when next you find yourself in that city to spit at the Mckinsey building. What I didn’t tell you is that, like Mckinsey, there are many other dodgy outfits in the city.

One of the restaurants I popped into, a French bistro, looked very nice from the outside. The man who answered the phone was nice enough when we called to book. He said he was busy that evening but would find us a table.

When we got to the bistro, it was empty. Two tables arrived, but they didn’t tarry. He was a one-man show, with no other staff.

The wine list was, how shall I say, just passable. The food? Forgettable.

To make up for this lousy meal I had to take my daughter to the legendary Dylan’s Candy Bar (the one on Union Square is the best). Sugar in a million variations. She thought she had died and gone to heaven.

That’s New York – sweet and sour. Like our politics.

The people who lecture us about integrity and fairness only follow such precepts when folk back in the US start asking tough questions

Dylan’s Candy Bar ★★★★

33 Union Square West New York, US Tel: +1 646-419-2000

★★★★★ Kgalema Motlanthe! ★★★★ Excellent ★★★ Good ★★ Poor ★ Bathabile Dlamini