"Move right along comrades, nothing to see here"
I sometimes wonder how politicians perceive us - the masses. Are we voting cattle to be discussed as they sit back and drink their Johnny Walker what-what in smoke-filled rooms?
Do they giggle (read Zumafied) and point at the naïve South African for believing anything and everything?
Or do they not even bother discussing us mere mortals and just pat each other on the back? Job well done.
"Ja, but comrade, they will never notice. Just say comrade Brian comes from the North West."
And herein lies my bee and its bonnet.
Let's take the way in which the Brian Molefe saga has unfolded. I think that in days, months and years to come, it will be used to illustrate what the ANC has become under President Jacob Zuma. An organization that I believe tries to be accountable and honest, but fails so many times due to a few rotten apples. And we know what rotten apples do - they spoil the whole damn bunch. The problem with the modern-day ANC is, the level of obfuscation is such, that even finding those rotten apples is proving to be quite a task.
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There is no doubt that in an alternate universe, Brian Molefe could very well make an excellent finance minister. Maybe even in this universe, if we could rid the universe of the people that have led the man to the 'Saxonworld Shebeen' and the delights on offer there. His capability is not in question, having had more success in the troubled worlds of Transnet and Eskom than most. The fact that he has achieved relative success, while pushing a transformation agenda, should also be seen as a tick to his name.
But the fact remains - those multiple trips to the Gupta family during his time at the helm of Eskom have tainted him. Doing suspicious coal deals, while visiting the Gupta family more than I visit my mother, is not a good look on a future finance minister, or any minister for that matter.
This makes the decision by the ANC to deploy Molefe to parliament all the more significant. I know, you thought I was going to say 'all the more puzzling', right?
But it is not puzzling at all. The ANC is like a teenager at the school dance- pulling out all the moves, thinking the girl isn't noticing how his hand is creeping ever closer to her. But the moves aren't nearly as smooth as the boy, or the ANC, thinks they are. We've all been watching the sleigh of hands since the start.
Still, the ANC keeps pretending that the Brian Molefe move is not significant. That he is just another cadre. ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe curtly told Jacaranda FM news that he will not comment on Molefe's deployment as "there are 200 other MP's and I don't comment on them."
No matter what the ANC would like to have us believe, Molefe isn't "just another MP". You cannot convince us that there is nothing to see here. People with vested interests have been pushing the 'Molefe for finance minister' agenda in the media for months. Now all of a sudden he is becoming an MP? Oh, and a position in the standing committee on finance just happens to open up? This all amid claims and counter-claims and questions over Molefe's branch membership in the North West, and whether the Public Protector's State of Capture report morally disqualifies him from serving in the legislature.
While my brain tries to unscramble it all, trying to figure out right from wrong and lie from even-worse-lie, the ANC will just keep chugging along. Pretending that everything is fine.
"Move right along comrades. Nothing to see here."
But there is. And we see it all too clearly.