Hogarth
Here’s Edward, chipping away at the old block
HOGARTH has often wondered why No 1 — who seems determined that only a Zuma will succeed him — didn’t pick the First Son, Edward, as his successor. Yes, the younger Zuma can’t even get himself elected chairman of a tiny ANC branch named after his dad, but surely he’d be much more entertaining than his former stepmom as a presidential candidate?
It was only during Edward’s late-night interview with Power 98.7 this week that it dawned on Hogarth why the First Son cannot be to No 1 what North Korea’s Kim Jong-un was to his father and predecessor, Kim Jong-il.
Which father, president or not, would trust a son who says this about him when asked if his father is corrupt: “But my father being the president doesn’t therefore necessarily mean he’s immune to this and that.”
No Gupta pal, either
EDWARD had no kind words for his father’s best friends, the Guptas, either. After the First Son called for private investigator Paul O’Sullivan to be deported, the interviewer, JJ Tabane, asked him if he thought the same should happen to the Guptas.
The reply: “I agree with you, my brother . . . They must take the Guptas together with O’Sullivan because they are on the same band.”
Hogarth senses a bit of sibling rivalry there. After all, the Guptas have made his younger half-brother Duduzane filthy rich and have given nothing to Edward.
Wise child knows its dad
AND then there was a time during the bizarre interview when the First Son seemed unsure of his father’s gender. Asked if he agreed with the notion that No 1 has “presided over the fracturing of the ANC”, Edward said: “Rather I would be saying he or she has presided over an ANC which has vigorously taught people . . . to be vocal . . .”
Sisulu has it figured
HUMAN Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu had an opportunity to show what her state of the nation addresses would be like — if she’s ever elected president — when she delivered her budget vote speech in parliament on Wednesday.
It was all quite impressive until she got to the part where she had to read out some numbers. She started tripping over a number, and before the opposition MPs could tell her who she reminded them of, she quickly said: “Please don’t call it Zumaism.”
There are worse Zumaisms to commit, Minister Sisulu; at least you didn’t spend R246million of taxpayers’ money on your private home and giggle at the nation afterwards.
Ombud pops up in time
THE new human settlements ombudsman, Themba Mthethwa, took a leaf out of new Eastern Cape DA leader Nqaba Bhanga’s book by being absolutely nowhere to be found when his name was announced at a press conference this week.
“That’s a very career-limiting move,” Minister Sisulu remarked coolly.
Mthethwa appeared, as if by magic, a few seconds later.
And then there was Gauteng human settlements MEC Paul Mashatile, who arrived at the same press conference 10 minutes before it ended.
An unimpressed Sisulu reacted by introducing him to the journalists as “the late Paul Mashatile”.
Does this mean Mashatile is now dead to her?
Molefe a fait accompli
POOR Zizi Kodwa, the ANC’s chief spin doctor.
He spent a lot of time telling anyone who was prepared to listen that Luthuli House was going to haul Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown over the coals for allowing the Saxonwold Shebeen’s favourite son, Brian Molefe, to return to his old job at Eskom.
But it has been a week since the Luthuli House meeting took place — and Molefe is still Eskom CEO.
Furthermore, Brown has shown no inclination to give in to the ANC’s demand that she reverse the decision to allow the Megawatt Weeper to return to the post that he left because he wanted to clear his name.
Hogarth thinks Kodwa and his bosses at Luthuli House should just admit to what we have known for a while: that the ANC is now in the opposition benches and that the fellows at Saxonwold call the shots.
At the next election, we may very well have the slogan: The Guptas live, the Guptas lead!