Crazy week
Michael Dingake | Tuesday June 28, 2016 16:18
Imagine seeing a dog running for dog’s life chased by a hare, wouldn’t that be hilarious? Crazy? Well it happened in Molepolole the week that was. When dog bites man, it is not news.
But when man bites dog it’s big news. Crazy! What has gone wrong in our world where you expect the sun to rise in the east and set in the west, where a child is born of a mother, not the other way round, the world where winter follows autumn, autumn follows summer and summer follows spring? Is it all part of climate change or the tragic El Nino phenomenon? True, in our universe nothing is static, things are in flux, dynamic. Except we poor creatures of the universe are born to live and die; that apparently we cannot change. Or, is it? Perhaps we are all soon to live forever to make this crazy world even crazier!
President Sir Ketumile Masire was invited by the Thabo Mbeki Foundation to be the guest speaker at the launch of “The Thabo Mbeki I know.” The book is a collection of reminiscences about Thabo Mbeki by comrades, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, ambassadors and subordinates in his office. Sir Ketumile, deserved the honour to be the guest speaker at the occasion.
He was Thabo Mbeki semi-underground confidante in Botswana, which relationship was viewed as a nuisance by the apartheid government. You’d have expected the speech to have been written and paginated professionally and meticulously by a diligent personal assistant to enable the guest speaker to read the speech with dignity.
Far from it! Pages of the speech were out of sequence, embarrassing Sir Ketumile publicly in spite of him trying to suppress the embarrassment by blaming the mess to his great age! Crazy! It shouldn’t have happened. The Seventh Parliament granted a generous package to QKJ to insulate him against any indignity during his Presidency, outside the State House. Has the current government shortchanged Sir Ketumile of his privilege of an efficient, caring office assistant? Crazy, if it be so!
In Tshwane, the capital of South Africa it was a week of torching of PUTCO buses, 22 of them; burning and looting shops of foreigners; the craze of xenophobia was back. All the burning of buses and business premises and looting of the same, because one Thoko Didiza of the ANC was nominated as compromise mayoral candidate; her potential supporters disagreed! What’s happened to the hard worn democratic dispensation? Was it for nothing many South Africans suffered and died to banish apartheid from the face of South Africa, so that peace, harmony and friendship could prevail? Why destroy property and create mayhem when decent methods of protest can achieve the intended objectives? Crazy!
Everyday we observe more of these crazy behaviour of people which seemed to multiply around the world last week. Why? Is it due to consumption of intoxicating drinks and/or abuse of drugs that we have all these crazy events? Misconduct and terrorism stalks the world. Syria lies in ruins, Fallujah sways between ISIL and Iraqi government under siege; men, women and children die like flies sprayed with pesticide. Suicide bombers do their own thing in Europe, Africa and everywhere. America is being depopulated by crazy gunmen who cite inviolability of the constitution which gives every American the right to bear arms! Ooh! A crazy world where flawed constitutions seem beyond amendment.
On June 23, 2016, the Wednesday of the crazy week, the United Kingdom (UK) held a referendum whether to remain in the European Union (UK) or leave; Brexit, it was called. Some British citizens had been grousing and itching to quit the EU David Cameron felt the matter had to be laid to rest once and for all by referendum. He had no wish to see the UK leave the EU; there were benefits from membership of the Union; among the benefits: security and free trade, goods and people moving freely unrestricted by visas and tariffs. A democratic man, David Cameron, hardly suspected the majority in the UK to be so crazy as to sue for divorce in a marriage that flourished for 43 long years.
The majority of Britons were deaf to his campaign plea to remain in the EU: 51.89 per cent opted to leave against 48.11 per cent that voted to remain. The British people had spoken, David Cameron had to admit. UK out of the EU wasn’t for him to lead.
His term therefore ends abruptly in October! Scotland which voted to remain in the EU will resuscitate the secession bid; meanwhile some parties in France, The Netherlands and Italy think of following the UK example. Financial markets and stock markets around the world shivered, spun and tumbled. Oil price dipped. Only the gold price endorsed UK leaving the EU. What’s your take?
An American interviewed by the CNN in Los Angles and asked what he thought of the UK referendum results, had a one-word answer: CRAZY! Had Btv popped the same question to me I’d have also given a one-word answer: DEMOCRACY! Democracy is dynamic. What trended yesterday may not trend today. People’s government ubber alles! The ripple effect of the Brexit and its shock waves will be experienced for a maximum of two years, we learn; we don’t know with more countries wanting to follow Britain and others wishing to sneak back! The crazy(iness) of the divorce will thankfully be short-lived. Democra(z)y is however guaranteed to persist!