MK: Trademark bullies
Chief Dwasaho, I find myself at sixes and sevens, veering more towards the sevens, regarding the Durban High Court’s recent decision to chuck out your party’s trademark infringement case against the Zuma party, with costs, no less.
As you well know, my leader, my stint at Unisa studying law lasted a grand total of 11 months before it ended in a cascade of tears. But, hey, look at God, I am now a writer, not yet fallen into disrepute, a memoirist that nobody reads nor understands, but I keep the fires burning by spinning the yarn daily. So, I must confess, I am no legal eagle but rather a proud member of the commentariat.
Now, my leader, while I don’t boast a string of legal letters trailing my name — though my progeny proudly does (if only academic accolades could be bequeathed via DNA, eh?) — I’ve been hip to the jive of uMkhonto we Sizwe, the Spear of the Nation, or MK to those in the know, since way back in ’83.
My beef is that the learned judge concluded that your secretary-general, Fikile April Mbalula, known affectionately as “Mr Fear Fokol,” approached the wrong court and his urgent court bid was deemed a “self-created emergency.”
The judge proceeded to rule on the merits of the application despite it being argued before him in a court that was neither the appropriate jurisdiction nor under urgent circumstances.
The application ought to have been dismissed at the first hurdle, namely the lack of urgency, and the second hurdle, the incorrect court.
I admit, I have not been offered an honorary doctorate in law from the, erm, what’s-its-name Trinity International Bible University. But I get a sense this judgment muddies the political waters.
One wonders if the judge presiding over this legal skirmish might fully appreciate the seismic events of December
16, 1961, now a distant echo some 63 years past. Therefore, I submit that a correct court may arrive at a different conclusion.
Mr President, I hear through the grapevine — and not just any old vine, but one that twines its way through the upper echelons of your revolutionary movement — that you’ve declared an all-out war, short of using nuclear weapons.
Not against the common or garden variety of foes, no. You’re squaring off against the political Goliath of biblical proportions and to starve off the broad daylight plundering of your party’s hallowed MK insignia by the Zuma party, evidently devouring your children’s inheritance long before your demise.
Yes, that venerable Spear of the Nation, complete with its iconic emblem of a warrior, shield aloft and spear thrust skyward.
Rumour has it, you’re geared up to march this battle all the way past the May 29 elections, right up to the steps of the Constitutional Court, if need be, to safeguard your familial silver.
My leader, spotting a bully, is second nature to me. I was bullied as a child. uBaba, the patriarch and poster child of his own political faction, whether you call it the Zuma party or the MKP (for the uninitiated, that’s a cheeky acronym), continues to hold court within your party’s hallowed halls.
It’s a spectacle, really. His spokesperson, a newfound zealot since hitching his wagon to the Zuma cause, boldly declared on national television this week that uBaba’s loyalty is eternally entwined with the ANC’s black, green, and gold.
He even went so far as to prophesy that uBaba’s final breath shall be drawn under the ANC banner. It’s textbook bullying, plain and simple. He’s playing both ends against the middle, wanting his cake and gobbling it down, too. What a farce! To misquote Karl Marx, when Zuma sold our country to the Guptas, that was a tragedy and his insistence on devolving the ANC heritage for ego purposes is a farce.
My dear leader, forgive my persistence, for I am a reluctant scholar in the school of politics, often finding myself revisiting the same lessons until their essence seeps into my reluctant mind. And yet, here we stand, on the precipice of absurdity, witnessing uBaba’s precarious dance on the tightrope of political triumph, third time lucky.
Behold, as uBaba tiptoes towards the hallowed halls of the National Assembly, from which he has been ejected twice before. Now poised for a triumphant return, Jesus-like, at the helm of his own faction, he clings stubbornly to his ANC membership. How do we rationalise this paradox?
Till next week, my man. Send me to Nkandla to have tea with uBaba kaDuduzane and Duduzile to fathom the inner workings of his mind. I have no patience for the antics of schoolyard “trademark” bullies.
• Bhekisisa Mncube is an author, a regular columnist for The Witness, a content creator, and a frequent political commentator on ENCA. His latest book, The Ramaphosa Chronicles, is now available for purchase at www.madeindurban. co.za
This article was first published