DINNER PARTY INTEL...

The topics you have to be able to discuss this week

1. Watching winners & losers

Corné Mulder, chief whip of the Freedom Front Plus, is looking forward to making parliamentary history in two years’ time. He was an MP in 1994, after SA’s first democratic election, and is the only remaining member from that parliament. He believes, according to Rapport, that after the 2024 general elections, he will hold the unique distinction of having served in parliament continuously from the time the ANC came to power until 30 years later when the ANC will have lost it.

Dwindling support for the ANC, seems to back his prediction.

2. Marmite’s might

The power of the smudgy sandwich spread is reflected in The Economist. The magazine’s SA correspondent scoured local grocery shelves in search of the little brown bottles and out of 15 stores found only three that stocked them. A reliable source for this column unexpectedly came across a bottle in a Joburg Woolies this week. Seems the reason for the comeback following a dearth in supply is a resumption of beer brewing, in which a byproduct, yeast, is a crucial ingredient in the spread.

3. Restoring furniture

The SA army came out with an upbeat briefing about our boys in Cabo Delgado. But the report didn’t contain any real news — such as the return of furniture to the Amarula hotel in Palma that was trashed and looted by the insurgents in March 2021. The hotel has partly reopened, and furniture was bought back at a “reasonable” price, according to assistant manager Ritha Jaime Lucas. The East African newspaper suggests the real looters were the Mozambican army.