Oh, and how we laughed

NUMBER One’s office is not well-known for efficiency, but at least on Wednesday it showed us that it can have a wicked sense of humour.

With the media pranking their readers and viewers with fake stories on April Fools’ Day, the Presidency decided to play a trick of its own.

It put out a press statement announcing that President Jacob Zuma had appointed retired politician Essop Pahad as “minister of public participation and interface”.

Charles Nqakula, it added, had been made minister of “roads and traffic affairs” while Zizi Kodwa would join the government as deputy minister of “social cohesion and nation building”.

Some hacks fell for it, and reported the statement as fact.

One even phoned Pahad for comment. Good sport that he is, Pahad remarked: “It’s April 1 today. It’s April Fools’ Day and I am very pleased to see that [presidential spokesperson] Mac Maharaj still has a great sense of humour.”

Watch out Trevor Noah, good old Mac may be coming for your US job when Number One retires.