South Africa is no longer a playground for fallen politicians

THE Grace Mugabe story is weighed down with perpetual reminders about the failures of upholding law and order. Whatever happened to the righteous land which has now become a playground for habitual political and business criminals?

Not long ago, Sudanese president Omar al-bashir, current hide-and-seek champion of Africa, led South African authorities on a merry cat-and-mouse chase as he eluded arrest and then skipped the country. He is wanted by the ICC for genocide. The Guptas and other demagogues have ran amok in our country. The scandalous peripatetic wanderings of Grace Mugabe’s sons and their trail of non-achieving destruction have been well documented and make Prince Harry’s and Prince William’s boarding school escapades look like candy floss. Oh yes, with that surname they are indeed well-heeled and cushioned like royalty. Besides attacking a South African citizen, Grace has a history of rude verbal tirades and platitudes bordering on violence and unbridled bellicosity. In 2006, she threatened a woman ENCA journalist outside the Garden City Hospital in Johannesburg where her old man, Robert, was receiving medical treatment.

Her unpopularity with the media was secured in 2009 when she repeatedly punched a British photographer in Singapore, and again in July this year when she pulled a Ronaldo trick by throwing a journalist’s cellphone into a pond. With an outlandish penchant for Jimmy Choo footwear and Dolce & Gabbana handbags while her country runs out of cash and her fellow Zimbabweans starve, she has run out of panache and refinement – especially when compared to the likes of Graça Machel. The fact that she has been swallowing up expensive real estate in South Africa means we’ll see a lot more of her. When will she throw her toys out of the pram again? Only time will tell. KEVIN GOVENDER

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