There is a lot happening in SA politics

LINDIWE Sisulu at 67 still displays the exuberance of youth. But youth and beauty aside, her acidic attack on the judiciary and Constitution in an opinion piece had tongues clucking.

She was publicly reprobated by Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo on national television. This was followed by President Cyril Ramaphosa spilling his objurgation at the recent ANC lekgotla backed by the Cosatu head honcho. Now Sisulu has been summoned to shed her honey before the ANC’s integrity committee.

In a recent television interview, Dr Ebrahim Harvey, who wrote the Great Pretenders, commented that not since 1810 had the SA Constitution been in a state of such fatal destruction. Hailed as one of the most progressive constitutions the world, it is enshrined with the Bill of Rights, which gives one freedom of speech, etc.

But Harvey asks what does it do for millions of South Africans who have been denied basic service delivery like water, housing, sanitation and electricity.

Harvey goes on to state that the ANC government is in grave danger of losing its majority in the 2024 national elections.

But political analyst Professor William Gumede, in a venomous retort, was as quick to point out that the Constitution was not about service delivery issues but rather about respecting the rule of law. He says the Constitution sets the rule for how the government should govern. The government needs to invoke a sense of “jus dicere and not jus dare” and that is to interpret laws and not make their own laws.

While I write, the vigorous selection process for South Africa’s Chief Justice is winding down with Raymond Zondo. Zondo’s dialectal endeavours would not go unnoticed but would come under the radar of scrutiny. Personally, the only other candidate that comes near him of the other three would be Justice Mandisa Maya. If it’s a gender-based decision, she will scoop the top prize.

The ANC, it seems, is loaded with relics of past extravagance who are ready to go to pasture. They bask and live in past glories. How honest was Ramaphosa at the recent ANC indaba when he openly proclaimed that the organisation was in a state of decay and disintegration. The only favour they have on the side of an impoverished nation currently is the R350 Covid grant, which they are feverishly trying to continue. God forbid what will happen if it has to gradually cease just like the pandemic.

I often wonder what type of psychology defines the millions who vote for the ANC. Is this a case of seagulls following the trawler? Perhaps it’s the grand delusion of the weakfilled; the vulnerable, gullible and fearful – the sheep of SA who haven’t the strength to lead but only be led. It inevitably leads to their slaughter.

The millions who were burdened by the scars of the past and by an aching sense of inadequacy and shame thought that they would finally find justice, peace and restoration of dignity when the ANC came to power. Almost three decades later, they are still disadvantaged. It is for this reason Harvey believes the ANC’s sell-by-date will expire in 2024. There is some justification in his thought but is it enough to change the mindset of the hoi polloi?

I often create anologies about cover-ups that are never unmasked. For reasons only a philosopher or an expert in mass psychology could understand, governments have a primordial connection to untruth. A government is like a parent whose responsibility is to provide presents on Christmas morning and to hide from its children the fact that there is no Santa Claus.

KEVIN GOVENDER

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