Insanity or mindless nicety?

HOSE whom the gods wish to destroy, they first drive mad.” The chilling maxim of the ancient Greek tragedian Euripides is very relevant to current rampant insanity. First came President Jacob Zuma’s insane and cynical decision to fire former minister of finance Pravin Gordhan, with predictably catastrophic results for the rand.

Second was the enforcement of the ANC party line rationalising the presidential decision.

Then the moronic chorus began: “We welcome the downgrade of the rand”; “let the rand fall and rise and emerge with the masses.” And so on, as if the rand rose and fell like a yo-yo.

However, the public were not fooled. Their nationwide protests against Zuma on Friday, April 7 were the largest demonstrations against any government since the Soweto riots 50 years ago.

Zuma and his crony capitalists have pretended to ignore this serious challenge, or cynically dismiss it as the hidden hand of “white monopoly capital” or wit gevaar.

Also significant was the emergence on Friday of the Gupta stronghold in Saxonwold as a third centre of power, vigorously defended by extremists of the BLF, claiming the Guptas as “friends of black people”.

Was this opposition to mass democracy a form of collective insanity or of mindless conformity?