Call for priceless dictates

BUT Wee Julius is not the only one in this business of tailoring one’s message to fit one’s audience. No 1, the man who probably calls Wee Julius his prodigal son, has been doing some head-spinning flip-flops lately.

During his recent trip to Germany and other centres of world economic power, he told would-be investors that “South Africa is open for business” and that they should head our way if they wanted to make more profits.

But then this week, in front of angry Cosatu delegates who wanted to know why his six years in power has not resulted in a socialist heaven, the Nkandla Crooner sang a different song: “One of the key questions for the party is how do we deal with the dictatorship of the capitalist class? They dictate everything every day. Who decides the price of bread? It is dictated to by the capitalist class.

“There is no meeting to discuss the price of bread. They will say 20c today and tomorrow it will be 25c. When the price of oil goes up, they decide to raise the price of petrol. Whether you like it or not . . . These decisions are taken to promote class interest. Somebody must make a profit; somebody must decide.”

Cosatu delegates were not brave enough to ask who decided the price for the fire pool, the chicken run and the R1-million cattle kraal.