Why Mmusi Maimane jumped the queue!
Michael Dingake | Tuesday June 13, 2017 17:32
By committing one political blunder after another the ruling ANC has virtually being scoring own goals.
The trend could be said to have been building up with countrywide service delivery protests pointing to the failure of ANC local government structures sleeping on the job. Last year, the President of the country was found to have violated the Constitution by not abiding by the findings of the Public Protector to pay expenses incurred in the refurbishment of his Nkandla home that had nothing to do with security features.
The opposition parties, DA and the EFF found a ready whiplash to beat the President for violating the Constitution and thereby proving unfit to hold office. The fact that he had complied with the court order didn’t mitigate the wrong. One thought the opposition was unfair. Why hit the man when he was down? In terms of the Queensbury rules in professional boxing, a boxer isn’t allowed to hit an opponent on the floor. Boxing and politics have a common denominator in that there must be a ‘winner;’ they differ in the fact that in boxing the victory is personal to the fighter/boxer, whereas in politics, victory isn’t only to the winner but to a group/nation. Here the stakes are much higher and the fighter/leader of the political party, has to have the stamina to stay not only a distance of 12 or 15 rounds, but stamina to last a longer distance of infinity! Good governance isn’t a one-off engagement, it is an ongoing process, as long as homo sapiens populate this planet of climate change. Point taken!
The President of the ANC/RSA dropped his guard, slow learner, and scored own goal when he fired his Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan on an alleged spurious intelligence report. Firing the Finance minister together with his deputy, who had raised the alarm of the ‘state capture’ beast prowling on the loose for the Gupta family, has set RSA state on tenterhooks! The governing party has been forced to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate this state of capture phenomenon. Poor JZ wasn’t aware he was scoring an own-goal when he fired Pravin Gordhan and his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas!
The official opposition DA of course took advantage of seeing the ANC on the ropes and piled pressure by staging the ‘Zumata-must-fall’ marches and tabling a motion of no confidence on the President; to exploit the motion of no confidence to the full, the opposition demanded that the Speaker use her discretion to have the motion decided by secret ballot, albeit not prescribed by the Constitution nor Parliament rules. The Speaker, unprepared to use the otherwise nonexistent discretion, left the opposition with no option but to resort to the Constitutional Court to order the Speaker to serve their interest!
While the ConCourt was still mulling over whether or not to interpret the Constitution in favour of the opposition, interesting developments were taking place inside the DA; Helen Zille former leader of the DA, following her indiscreet tweet which asserted that colonialism wasn’t all evil as the fastidious anti-colonial lobby want everybody to believe, public reaction went out to paint her as a thoroughbred apartheid/colonial sympathiser. Some of her fellow party members including Mmusi Maimane the leader saw red. They wanted her to apologise for the faux pais. While the party was deliberating whether to suspend her from party activities or not, leader Mmusi Maimane was under immense pressure from the media and the public, demanding immediate action to be taken against Zille. Maimane announced Zille’s suspension from party activities before she could make her submission to show cause why she shouldn’t be suspended. Mmusi Maimane had clearly jumped the gun ahead of Zille’s submission. This was wrong and unprocedural. Why Maimane acted as he did was a stunt to impress the public that the DA meant business and he was in charge. Breaking the rules when expected to enforce them, meant Maimane was playing to the gallery and scoring own goal in the process. It was an attempt to swing the public to his side and pose as someone to be trusted at the helm of good governance, unlike the ANC which was proving unequal to the task. Obviously he was scoring an own-goal. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
The DA had asked HZ to apologise and according to her, she had. She therefore felt she was victimised and abused, expected to plead guilty when she felt she wasn’t guilty! Maimane’s reactive impetuosity and Zille’s reaction has helped to expose factions within the DA. While a section felt she wasn’t guilty and that an apology sufficed, one of Maimane’s supporters, Phumzile Vandaam has come hard on HZ, giving a definition of what an apology looks like. According to her, apology, is defined as:
a). Expression of regret, b) acknowledgement of responsibility, c) declaration of repentance, d)offer of repair, e) request of forgiveness! In other words Helen Zille can’t deny guilt!
Tony Leon, former leader of the DA is of the opinion that Zille is guilty as charged and should graciously step aside and allow the DA to forge ahead with Mmusi Maimane at the controls. She has contributed to the growth of the DA and should allow Mmusi Maimane to play his role as the new leader. Interesting political stuff!
ANC members are at each other’s throat. The opposition isn’t at all rollicking in undiluted peace either. Own goals, galore!