IN SEARCH OF CONSISTENCY

Sometimes you need to put a bit of distance between yourself and SA’S fickle politics — take a trip to New York, even …

ometimes you just have to take a breather, you know — see the world; meet new people. After all, there is only so much one can learn from people whose backbones are so limp they flip-flop at every turn and on every issue they claim to stand for.

Take our dear president, Cyril Ramaphosa. For the past six months he has been telling us that the ANC will expropriate land without compensation. From the day he came back from the ANC’S December conference he has been beating that drum like a Boy Scout.

“We are going to address the land question and we’re going to take land without compensation in the interest of our people,” he told the party’s land summit a couple of months ago.

Well, last week Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini threatened fire and brimstone if anyone touched his Ingonyama Trust land, which comprises about 30% of Kwazulu-natal. The king makes a tidy R100m a year from rentals on the land. That’s over and above the R65m we budget for him every year.

Anyway, after the king’s threats of war and secession, Ramaphosa rushed to meet the king and declared: “It is not government’s intention to go and grab land from rural communities; land that is under the control of traditional leaders.”

Say what? Ramaphosa needs to show us that he believes in something, really. He can’t always be for turning.

SAs for Julius Malema — the biggest flip-flopper in SA politics — it was to be expected that he would do a U-turn. Four months ago he said: “If Ingonyama Trust is not being used properly to benefit the Zulus, then let Ingonyama Trust be dissolved and let [the land] be returned into the hands of the people.”

Last week Malema said the king’s secessionist talk “should be viewed as part of the contribution to the ongoing debate we are having in our country”.

Contribution to the debate? When the man threatens secession? Mmmm.

This is why I hopped off to New York for some heat — and to laugh at Donald Trump. We ended up at a brand new eatery, Bistrot Leo, in downtown Soho. This part of town used to be slummy and dangerous. The artists moved in, followed by the money, and now it is hip, hot and very expensive.

Until April the space was an Italian restaurant. The owners decided there were just too many Italian joints in the neighbourhood, and decided to go French. Personally, I’m not sure about that decision. My favourite French in the area is Balthazar, which is where we were headed before settling on Bistrot Leo.

No matter. A night out in New York is always fun. We sat down, got offered cold water and mulled over the menu.

It’s a bistro lover’s heaven — everything from steak tartare, to mussels in garlic, to escargot with garlic and herb butter, plus lobster Niçoise, peppered steak, pommes frites, raw oysters …

You get the picture. It’s a great, poised menu. The crowd is young and old, and international (we sat next to a table of Italians and spotted a classy looking SA couple). Two 20something patrons seemed high, knocked over two glasses of water, and were asked very firmly to leave. Oh, New York!

We had a lovely

French wine (expensive you are paying in rand), and juicy steaks. My daughter opted for a linguine with cockles, parsley and chilli oil. For sides we had some peas, fries and spinach.

I like food. I like wine. I like atmosphere and conversation. So let me put this way: I was very, very happy.

Bistrot Leo ★★★★

60 Thompson Street Soho, New York City Tel: +1 212-219-8119

★★★★★ Kgalema Motlanthe ★★★★ Excellent ★★★ Good ★★ Poor ★ King Zwelithini if it

There is only so much one can learn from people whose backbones are so limp they flipflop at every turn and on every issue