Security cluster caption competition and election fever news

An irresistible opportunity for a caption competition arose when I saw this picture on Die Burger‘s webpage:

What is intelligence minister Siyabonga  Cwele whispering in the ear of justice minister Jeff Radebe? What is Radebe thinking? I hesitate to ask.

Post your suggestions in the comments section below. The winner will receive a copy of the excellent ‘SA Politics Unspun’ by Stephen Grootes – which I will review here soon. The judge’s decisions are arbitrary and subjective … and seldom final.

That picture accompanies a story in Die Burger describing the alleged cover-up by the security cluster of public protector Thuli Madonsela’s Nkandla report – thanks to the person who pointed it out … catch the original here.

Below follows a sliver (‘slither’ as a young close relative of mine is wont to say) of my weekly politics summary and analysis from early Monday morning – I have stripped out some technical issues so what is left is little thin (although it was, frankly, a little thin anyway.)

But purely for the record:

Election fever and the registration weekend

• Election fever takes hold – AgangSA launches with tea and cakes, EFF slaughters 8 bulls
• Winnie Mandela still in ANC colours, but speculation as to her loyalties continues
• Vigilante violence in Khutsong – Minister Nathi Mthethwa holds the thin blue line
• The Democratic Alliance feels the stress of attempting to hold on to its old support base while pursuing a new one

Despite the 2014 election dates not yet having been announced, most parties are entering campaigning mode. (The elections must be held, according the SA Constitution, between April and July 2014). This weekend the Independent Electoral Commission held the second and last national voter registration drive and managed to register just under 500 000 new voters – and change the details of an additional 600 000 others (Independent Electoral Commission).

Election noise from almost every corner of the country is already deafening. Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) from this past weekend:

Winnie appropriately dressed in Bekkersdal

Various leaders visited Bekkersdal, a community to the west of Johannesburg that has been plagued by violent service delivery protests and where many IEC registration booths were unable to open on Saturday morning. The most notable was Winnie Mandela who was “warmly received” by the community (eNCA). The twitterati and commentariat were obsessively interested to see whether she would arrive wearing red – indicating a possible defection from the ANC to the EFF. She arrived in ANC colours and spoke like a loyal ANC leader – for now, anyway. Registration booths opened in Bekkersdal yesterday.

Police minister stands his ground

Minister Nathi Mthethwa and several of his generals bravely faced down an extremely angry Khutsong audience (also west of Johannesburg) yesterday. Mthethwa visited the troubled area in the wake of last week’s vigilante violence in which 6 alleged criminals were murdered – by stoning and burning. Mthethwa, a close Jacob Zuma ally, stood his ground as audience members screamed at him and his senior officers, accusing the police of incompetence and corruption and threatening to fry criminals ‘like chicken’. Mthethwa urged the crowd to work with the police – and expose the area’s drug lords and corrupt cops.

The best action was on Twitter

Much of the off-beat action was on Twitter. A flyer portraying itself as having been distributed by the ANC Youth League promising a R60 car-wash by scantily clad young women near a registration station in Kenilworth (looks fake, but you never can tell). One tweet pointed out an essential difference between AgangSA and the EFF: “Agang launched with Tea and cakes, EFF slaughtered 8 Bulls” – which, in our opinion, nails down the difference between the two new parties rather well.

DA swerves

The Democratic Alliance continues to shudder from its ‘mistaken’ backing of the Employment Equity Amendment Bill in the National Assembly recently. It appears the flip-flop is based on tension in the official opposition between those who believe backing state interventions to reverse the relative exclusion of black South Africans from senior management positions as well as from other forms of ownership and control of the economy is essential if the DA is to win black votes. The South African Institute of Race Relations quoted in the Business Day on November 6th says: “DA support for this kind of racial engineering will come as a shock to many of its current supporters.” As it happens Helen Zille backed away from supporting the bill and has reshuffled her shadow minister of labour, Sej Motau. Tension around this matter will remain and grow in the party.