Who will lead the ANC in Gauteng?

No matter how hard ANC insiders would like to deny it, many of us know that leadership battles are really about power, access and control of taxpayers money. Thus one would expect that the battle to lead the ANC in Gauteng Province, the richest province in South Africa, will be a fiercely contested one. Soon the members of the ANC in Gauteng will decide who their leader will be, this person will wield power for the next term and will enjoy power and influence (read money) that no other individual in this province will ever dream of.

At this present moment, there are two prominent comrades who are eyeing this position. The first is the current feisty premier Nomvula Mokonyane and the second is Paul Mashatile, the infamous "Alex Mafia" leader who is better known for his flashy lifestyle. He currently serves as a deputy minister of Arts and Culture ministry. The issue that seems to be a great worry is that Nomvula, the preffered candidate by top leadership of the ANC does not have the grass-roots pulling power that Paul enjoys. Nomvula was appointed premier by the Zuma machinery despite the fact that Paul was the caretaker premier after Shilowa left the ANC for COPE.

Paul was later to be demoted to a deputy minister position in a "dead" ministry. Clearly the signs were all over for his demise, but Paul is street-wise, and that is the problem. He has entrenched himself in the branches of Gauteng, paid his way to be a favourite while Nomvula, a much capable leader, remains moderately favoured at branch level. The most certain way to sway ANC leadership votes your way is to ensure that the "runners" are on your side, the runners are the ANC Youth League. Despite the fact that Paul tied his fortunes with the Mbeki regime, then later with Tokyo Sexwale at Polokwane and later became a Zuma man, he has managed to survive the chop that befell all the non-Zuma people after Polokwane. The reason seems to be his power and financial influence that emanates from the string of private business interests as well as the GSSC. The GSSC was Paul's bank while he was the MEC for Economic affairs and later on as premier (for a lettle while).

He has somehow managed to get the ANC youth league on his side, he has been seen attending parties with the powerful youthful group within the ANC currently that comprises Julius Malema, Zizi Kodwa and Fikile Mbalula. What surprises is that the same ANC Youth League has argued against the "two centers of power" but they seem to be willing to make an exception this time around and have Nomvula as premier (Senior in government) and Paul as chairman of the ANC (Senior in the ANC). That effectively would mean that Nomvula would have to report to Paul when it comes to ANC matters.

The usual slander that characterises all ANC elections has begun. Recently it was reported that that Nomvula has a stack of traffic fines totalling more than R17 000 which she has not paid after an unofficial lifestyle audit was done on her by a newspaper. She was furious obviously but on a radio interview did indicate that "everyone" knows who is behind this slander. Off we knew that she was talking about Paul. She then claimed that she does not play those games. But LO and Behold: a new scadal broke that relates to Mashatile (he has a litany that have already been published).

In this new piece of propaganda warfare it is alleged that he played a role in a huge financial scandal that involves payments of about R50million rands in relation to a TV deal with CNBC. This project was seen to be Thabo Mbeki's pet project. One can see the link; this is all about re-connecting Paul with Mbeki, a swear word in the post-Polokwane ANC and thus paint him as a non-Zuma man. The trouble is that Paul has survived so many financial scandals, this one is just another one that may just go unnoticed. That will be a blow to the Nomvula camp, it also does not help that the scandal broke at a time when the nation is glued to their screens worrying about the murder of Eugene Terre'blanche.

At the end of it all, it is all about money, NOT service delivery to citizens, NOT exemplary leadership...FILTHY LUCRE!

"ET is gone home", what about us?

While the rest of the world was celebrating Easter holidays, South Africans were unexpectedly flashed with the news that Eugene "ET" Terre'blanche, a leader of a small rightwing Afrikaaner extremist grouping in had been brutally hacked to death by two young black farmworkers. The announcement came late on Saturday night. South African airwaves, social media sites and private conversations have since been littered with this story. On Sunday morning I switched on to CNN and BBC International to see if this story was being carried internationally, and indeed it was.

All government spin machinery was in full swing, even the President had to interrupt his Easter holidays to calm the nation, you got a sense that something significant had just taken place. It was reported that a 16 year old (later revised to 15) and a 21 year old workers employed at the Terre'Blance farm had a dispute with the AWB leader over R300 (some channels said R600) that he owed them. The squabble ended up with the pair attacking him with a panga and stick, killing him in his bedroom. What was striking was that the young pair then informed the police about their deed and handed themselves over. Thus there was very little room for speculation about who killed ET.

South Africa has been forced to revisit the legacy of the man called ET, which I will not go into in this blog (visit the link earlier). The bottom line is that; ET was a rebel without a sensible cause. Many sensible white Afrikaners in South Africa considered him a buffoon for his stance, however there is still a small group that still look up to him as a leader. Most of the talking point was around the song that Julius Malema, the radical leader of the ANC Youth League, had sung a few weeks earlier at the University Of Johannesburg. The song called "Ayesaba Magwala" (the cowards are scared), has a line that says "aw dubul' ibhunu [shoot the boer] 'a magwala [the cowards are scared] dubula dubula [shoot shoot]". Some have argued that this song is linked to the ET's death or the song has created a context in which this murder occured. This off course is far from the truth in my opinion.

Up until we hear from the alleged killers, it is a matter of speculation whether Malema and the song influenced them. The irony of this whole situation is that President Jacob Zuma's signature song, "Awulethu Mshini Wam", is not very far from Julius' song. It is a struggle song that calls for the machine gun, to do what exactly? To shoot the bloody enemy off course, the same cowards that Malema is threatening to shoot. It will be very interesting to see how the case develops and whether references are made to this song.

What is clear however is the reality that these songs are offensive to a lot of South Africans, black and white, who are still committed to reconciliation. The ANC argues that these songs are part of our heritage, that is fair enough, however the question that we need to ask is whether this aspect of our heritage needs to be rehashed at the expense of offending and ultimately reversing the gains of the negotiated settlement.

Now that ET is dead, now that the struggle songs have been brought back to the fore, what is South Africa going to do? Will we all dig in and hold on to our polar views despite of the divisive nature of our views? Was reconciliation in SA perhaps a farce? Shall we rise above these glitches and seek for a better country? Are we ready to painfully deal with this situation for the sake of the future?

What is wrong with SA soccer?

Many people have asked the question:"What the bloody hell is wrong with South African soccer?". It has never been a doubt in my mind that a big chunk of what is rotten about SA soccer can be located right at the top. The leadership of SA soccer is filled with men who just have the best interest of the sport nowhere near their hearts. The sad thing is that they have deluded themselves that they actually give a damn. Perhaps the fact that they have been associated with the "modernisation" of the sport gives them the misguided belief that they have the right to mess it up. But no one owns this sport, it can survive without them.

It is not very difficult to deduce who has been at the central engine of South African soccer. There is only one man (off course he has his supporters and foot soldiers) who is the central figure of South Africa, the embodiment of its inefficiency and the personification of its useless state. He is affectionately known as the Iron Duke in some circles, one editor calls him "the one with a missing tooth", some derogatorily refer to him as Dr. Khoza or Brigadier. Khoza, most of us know simply know him as Irvin Khoza.

You will not be able to analyse the problems of SA soccer without his name popping up. He is the the perennial leader, he is to SAFA what Issa Hayatou is to CAF. Do not get me wrong, Khoza does not want to see SA soccer dead, NO, in a funny way he wants it to work, as long as it remains his own fiefdom. In South Africa soccer team bosses are involved directly in the day-to-day administration of the PSL. This factor alone presents many challenges. Dr. Khoza has held multiple positions in both SAFA and the PSL, he has walked away with millions of rands in self-compesation over the years and he is intent on holding on to that privilege.

The recent news that he is conspiring to dethrone the new SAFA leadership rests within this context. Even though he pulled out of elections last year which saw Mr. Nematandani taking over and also saw Danny Jordaan pulling out of the race, all of us know that he is temporarily laying low only to pounce after the World Cup. Khoza is not alone in this pursuit to "own" South African soccer.

Kaizer Motaung, ranks as another big problem. The fact that he is more discreet than Khoza in his ambition does not make him less of a culprit. He is a known powerful ally of Khoza. They both own the biggest soccer clubs in SA namely Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. They are known to share sponsors and always vote together in major SAFA and PSL decisions. Motaung is a real soccer legend while Khoza never really played the sport, but both have a long history of soccer administration in this country, but they have no right to destroy it.

Under their leadership and dominance, SA soccer is languishing at the bottom when it comes to FIFA rankings. The league dishes out mediocre soccer while the national team is an African disgrace. However, money keeps coming in millions, pointing to some level of good financial management, but it makes no difference when the quality of football is so poor in this country. It is about time that these men exit soccer leadership and focus on their declining teams that were once very great. Perhaps in that way the football product will improve in quality while more competent and forward looking administrators take charge to hopefully lead this country to new heights.

The business of soccer is not to generate huge incomes that simply find their way into the pockets of administrators. Soccer lovers deserve competitive and entertaining soccer on the pitch. They deserve quality players who are trained from their early years at state of the art facilities. We need competitive school soccer and varsity soccer leagues, we deserve a league that is not a yawn to watch, we deserve beautiful soccer, not this nonsense that we see every weekend! Get rid of the current useless guard, not superficially; I say dislodge the mafia that is running down our soccer where it has firmly entrenched itself: the high echelons of the PSL and at SAFA.

The folly of criminalising liberation songs

It strikes me as a stupid move. The South Gauteng High Court Acting Judge Leon Halgryn ruled last week that the use of the words “dubula ibhunu (shoot the boer)” was unconstitutional and unlawful. The judge gave no further elaboration as to why he believes so. This ruling was a result of an urgent application lodged by a member of an anti-crime organisation.

Apparently some members squabbled about whether they should put the words on a banner, it was then decided that they should approach the court to make a ruling.After the judge made a ruling that the song in unconstitutional and unlawful, political parties from the opposition quickly jumped for joy because finally there was a ruling against Julius Malema who brought this song back from the past.

I think the judge needs to elaborate further, without a detailed justification the public remains in the dark about his logic. The other worrying factor is whether banning struggle songs achieves anything? I do not support the song being sung in this new South Africa that we live in, it is offensive. However how do we begin to police the public if they do decide to sing this song? How do we link the killing of whites to the song i.e. is the public being incited and can we link factually the incidences of the killings to the song? Will this ruling also affect the usage of the phrase in other contexts?

I just think we are being lazy as South Africans. We are failing to engage each other and taking the easy route of suing each other. The ruling party also needs to start thinking hard about the project of reconciliation and nation building. Who benefits when certain sections of the community are so clearly offended by songs that hold historical significance to the movement? Is it still relevant for this songs to be sung when the goal has been reached or is there a belief that the system still needs to be fought?

If so, are the old songs still a way to fight the current challenges? As a private citizen i sincerely hope that sanity will reign, certain songs and slogans should be rested, they have reached their expiry date and they do not need to be revived simply to offend others. It is a tough approach but one that can only be reached through mature rational thinking.I see no point singing songs from the past, whose aim is of the past, whose significance is found in the past. Can we move on please comrades?