Leon out, Zuma plays the NPA for centre stage

The soon to be retiring self-styled 'leader of the Official Opposition' in Southern Azania [SA] must be feeling pleased with himself. Most people die before becoming such a recipient of so many eulogies from those considered to be their enemies. One could also argue that the immanent retiree has benefited from his colour coding. A man as thoroughly unpleasant as he, and of a presently more favoured hue, would quite possibly have come to the same ghastly end, as that suffered by a young rising star of impeccable connections this past week- Was that gratuitous murder a stark message, I ask? - Is it being suggested somewhere that there is no place on that right hand side of the emerging political equation for a man of aspiration. That, that side is booked?

But to return for a moment to the 'Soon-to-be-retiree'-Mr Rude and his living eulogies. At least three of the eulogising 'I am going to go and then you'll be sorry' radio presentations that I caught snatches of during the week, while driving around the city, seemed to feature the 'Retiring Leader' himself: doing a pretty good job of being 'as bossy as could be' and reminding us all why we're so glad to see him go-

Of course the whole thing about a eulogy in the first place is that it represents a summing up of an age as represented by the life of the eulogised. The well-lampooned leader of the alleged official opposition represents something that everyone other than his terrified supporters have come to accept, with the same inevitability that we accept the sunrise every morning. He represents an idea that has passed its sell by date.

We have therefore been treated to a well-spun series of bullshit media pieces about how the Official Opposition is so useful: because it in fact almost useless. It snaps away at the heels of those who would hound their enemies to their end of days, in pursuit of vengeance for past misdeeds. However his prissy opposition threatens no one, and everyone else can be bonded together in opposition to it. Perhaps that may be considered useful in the same way that burglar bars are useful even though they block out the view.

The theme of the present orchestrated spin activity tossed out to leaven the news that 'the old order hath not only 'changethed'' but hath 'changethed' irrevocably, is nostalgic: 'those were the best of times', to cannibalise Dickens. [with apologies also to Tennyson: Morte de Arthur].

They were also as Charles [also] pointed out so long ago, 'the worst of times' and this collection of sanctimonious self-seeking politicians who derive their salaries through the officious Mr L- represent that past, at its most ineffectual and gluttonous. I believe it was Cromwell who chased the 'Rump' politicians from the Parliament prior to the Glorious Revolution [1653A.D.] on the grounds that they were largely unrepresentative. 'Go' he said and thus it is repeated to the 'The Official Bookend'.

The so-called alleged 'official opposition' represents mostly terrified minorities and has no real grip on the imagination of the formerly dispossessed majority. It has no future other than what it is: a collection of little firecrackers rattling about while the big people party. Somewhere along the way they missed the moment, assuming there ever was one.

Much of the discussion that has wavered about amongst his startled opponents, centres on the idea that this, convoluted admixture comprising a collective of terrified minorities, can somehow become a national party that could, at a date in the far, far, distant never, never land of the endlessly hopeful future, become the government itself. This is a bit like IBM having been toppled from Big Blue eminence deciding to 're-invent' itself and overtake Microsoft as the global leader in IT technology. They have been attempting to do this since long before the honourable leader of the so-called 'Official Opposition' took up his own set of cudgels. I think even they have accepted that it will never happen, after all did they miss Google, You tube, and whatever the latest story is featuring some kid in sandals, jeans and a blazer?

Much is made of the toleration for the idea of an: 'Official Opposition', in what Margaret Thatcher once described as, '- the thin soil of African [Azanian] democracy'.

The truth is they are tolerated because they are of no use to the people. Their usefulness is exclusive to the 'official' government. They are a convenient element in what would otherwise be an empty charade.

The real opposition in SA political affairs is with the man everyone who matters presently hopes will 'really' go away. The man who is the de facto leader of the 'unofficial' opposition, a man who gets more headlines in a week than the honourable-soon-to-be-retiree got in a political lifetime. The government harbours its own viper. Within the governing party's own disparate, convoluted incongruencies, lie the seeds of the 'Official Opposition's' ultimate irrelevance.

It does not take a huge amount of foresight to see that the so-called 'ultra left' of the party in power is making a last ditch lunge for power. Their spear point is the formidable Mr Z. There is a tide [sorry Brutus] in our affairs currently and it is running full to the brim. The effect of it will be that the retiree's Alliance Party, cobbled together as it has been with such painstaking obsessive purpose, will scatter to the winds as minority party supporters rush to prop up the current ruling party, when this thorn eventually bursts through the Party's skin and the incongruencies papered over by the Party hierarchy are finally lanced.

The real opposition to the present Government comes from its own support base: a systemic fissure that has maintained itself and widened while all the time remaining hidden under the linoleum floor coverings, reinforced constantly by dutiful formalities: formalities that have now been breached. Ironically the inevitable long delayed split may well owe its delay to the common detestation for the honourable soon-to-be-retired leader of the Official Opposition.

It could be that in his selfless desire for political immortality-fulfilling his childhood vision perhaps of the little boy who puts his finger in the crack in the dyke, and saves the country, to become an unknown but well-sung hero-this, simple act of retiring, could become his single most successful moment.

There is a growing groundswell of rage against the obvious profiteering that increasingly seems to be the hallmark of the new regime. Other 'out' people also want to profiteer. A similar groundswell in the USA has seen 'he-who-would-be-Caesar toppled from his pedestal and facing a bleak reality-The people demand an accounting and a huge amount of pussyfooting is needed to keep them at bay and on a leash. As with the Republicans so too with the governing party in SA-Ironically the party is so riven with its own internal strife that it reveals its fear-with the 'official' opposition now denuded and leaderless the moment is at hand for the emergence of the 'informal' opposition. [Sound effects: SFX ] vuvuzela accompaniment.

Much of the pious platitudinising [sic] that has taken place this past week in those odd snatches of the day reserved for such activities has centered on how the retiree's party now should go forward with its general ragbag collection of self-serving pseuds. There is a common consensus that for some reason the party must appoint a person of colour and go forth to conquer the masses. That's like asking an elephant to become a horse. The short answer is 'NOWHERE'. There will never be a future for a party with such a heritage, as this rag and bone collective brings with it, when the stakes are so much higher than they can ever conceive of.

Fact: This party sits to the right of the ruling party no matter their blather to the contrary. That is the territory to which the ruling party must retreat if they are to handle the impossible demands of the people, in the form of a populist mechanic, propelled by those who see absolution in the abolition of the so-called 'scourge' of private property. There would seem to be many who would be in a line of fire if/when the indomitable Mr Z makes his 'Big Move' whatever it turns out to be. One suspects that Mr Z- broods somewhat, and has a long memory.

So retreat they will.

And those voters who were slower than their bosses to recognise that they should have joined the ruling party, back when the Minister of Tourism made his 'Big Move', will desert the so-called 'Official Opposition', in order to prop up the ruling party against the onslaught from the real opposition-'the people': whoever they are.

The best thing that could be said now to the soon to be dishevelled so-called-official opposition is that they have two choices. They can retreat back to their original manifesto, and position themselves as a niche minority party where their quaint views on the naughtiness of corruption and the thieving attitudes of the present, increasingly venal and materially overloaded official 'ruling class', can be viewed as an irritation, rather than a threat; while the real bloodletting gets underway on the other side of the stage. This way they could [possibly] end up holding sufficient voting power to be the kingmakers [feudal irony intended] in much the same way that the redoubtable, albeit unsuitable, Madam Z- balances Lemmer's 'Visdorpie' on the end of a pendulum.

Alternatively they can roll up their socks and join their former leader who, rumour has it, has his heart set on 'ruling' Australia. The masses of the dispossessed and the alienated and the marginalised see many of their own becoming rich and well fed and envy looms larger on their horizons. They cannot respond to the cold logic of market economics. They have already lost that struggle.

Our own 'Ugo Chavez' is no longer on the sidelines, he is strong enough to push a curiously apathetic President off the mike, to calm what may, or may not be, his followers-a significant act given the almost feudal structure of the 'ruling' party.

Note: Those perceptive citizens who listen to 'The Master's Voice' SABC radio news broadcasts will have noted the increasing use of the word 'rule' eg: President Mbeki will attend the inauguration ceremony in Kinshasa of President Kabila who's rule begins today-' No wonder Bemba is miffed. Rule-a feudal term with minimal democratic credibility. The appropriate term would be 'govern': with the consent of the people, to whom they are answerable.

[Q-. Why is the President so seemingly paralysed by the foment that is alleged to be raging within his party-?]

Okay, to get back to the point. The only thing now stranding between Mr Z- and his own populist interpretation of Venezuela's 'Bolivarian Revolution' is the National Prosecuting Authority [NPA] and what they decide to do about his controversial relationship with a well-known, convicted fraudster. This action [should it occur] will be evaluated against what action is taken against a police chief who is also alleged to have a controversial relationship with an accused, alleged murderer, something about which we are reminded daily by the SABC.

Mr Z- a man who seems to have no ideological baggage, could well gamble that people will punt always for the seductive lies represented by the collectivist left, the one that says vote for me and you get everything for free. Who would not want that? 'Vote for ME and I will give you all BASIC PAY'*.

His supporters have also given notice that IF HE IS NOT charged they would create 'hell'. Could the present upsurge in particularly brutal violent crime be associated with that 'hell' on wonders? Everybody wants BASIC PAY.

Should Mr Z's gamble pay off, and that is itself arguable, then there will be a panic movement amongst the supporters of all parties to the right of the ruling party to prevent an even greater perceived enemy from further left from moving in and hogging centre stage.

Thus the 'official [fake] opposition' has now passed its sell-by-date, representing an increasingly out-of-touch set of delusions. They will gradually fade from the scene, to become as obscure as all the rest of the little fishies out there, but nonetheless speaking for special interest groups, as is their right.

The curtain will then open on the long delayed main event - Will the real opposition come out of the closet please. Ah sorry: I forgot. You can't make a move until your leader is out of leg irons. The President's silence becomes less inscrutable.

We will soon discover whether the sinister murder of a talented and upcoming young politically connected star this week was simply part of the random chaos that is enveloping us in bloody violence in our country, threatening our future hopes and aspirations with greater and greater urgency; or part of a fairly low key but longstanding pattern of unsolved, politically associated murders, previously restricted [albeit not exclusively] to the more feudal outlying territories of the country, parts of which are being claimed by an even more feudal entity than the one to which we do not wish to become accustomed..

Will this show therefore have a valid denouement?
And why should we be deprived of that to which we are entitled, by virtue of having bought a ticket?

Cheers-.

'¢ 'Basic Pay' A concept developed in my Prelude piece to the Yonka Memorandum. In the Azanian Konfederacy, Corinth Starr [The Elder] comes from nowhere to win overwhelming success in the 2009 election in SA. She runs initially on a Gender ticket, which brings her the majority vote-Women outnumber men at the polls. She exploits the rage against the rising tide of rape prevailing in the country to capture the vote of those who want it stopped. [and she has a radical programme for stopping it.] She also converts the somewhat discredited idea of a Basic Income Grant [aka BIG] to the idea of BASIC PAY- 'Grant me no favours'-was her rallying slogan. She registered a huge number of dispossessed former voters who turn out and vote for her Gender party in massive numbers, sufficient to overthrow the existing order that realises too late that they are under threat. [I had to cobble together some form of economic theory based on Hernando de Soto's work to give the idea some credence].
'¢ This act [storming to electoral victory] was seen by later historians to demonstrate the extent to which history imitates history; referring in many headlines of the time how a previous leader of the country spent so much time outside the country that he lost touch with the trends, and failed to perceive the threat to his own 'rule'.