10. The ANC sells luxury leather jackets
The ANC's website this week advertised a range of discrete and stylish leather clothing, at very reasonable prices. For some inexplicable reason the M&G's Chris Roper described the jackets as "awful, ugly", and "disgusting" and complained that they made his eyes bleed. Clearly, the man has no taste - and is a colour-blind racist to boot.
9. Joburg's world class African potholes
The ratepayers of Johannesburg tend to be in a particularly grumpy mood in January. Many of them have just returned from far flung foreign lands - like Germany or Cape Town - where the streets are unholy and clean. In this context it is inadvisable to write to Business Day, as city spokesperson Gabu Tugwana did, trumpeting Amos Masondo's record as mayor of "Africa's richest city."
This letter provoked a torrent of replies from disgruntled residents of the northern suburbs. D Wolpert explained how on a 12km drive from Morningside to Fourways he had counted the following: "Of 11 traffic lights, five were working. There were nine large potholes and many smaller ones - at least three were, in my opinion, dangerous. There were two major water leaks on this route. The filth and rubbish that polluted this short stretch of road was disgusting."
John Kane Bermann complained that "Bits of streets and pavements are dug up for some or other purpose, poorly cordoned-off with tatty ribbons, and then left as hazardous and gaping wounds full of rotting garbage and filthy water for months on end. That Masondo and Co should wish to attract hordes of soccer fans later in the year to see this mess suggests that they are blind to it or could not care less about it."
8. Our peace-loving traffic cops
There were two stories in the news about brutish behaviour of traffic officers. In The Witness, Chris Ndaliso, reported on the story of Judy Ward, a Cato Ridge resident, who ended up being assaulted by a member of the traffic police after failing to move over quickly enough for him. And in a police station nogal. In the M&G online Yolandi Groenewald had the story of Sophie Bouillon, a French journalist, who along with her Zimbabwean boyfriend, were manhandled by Joburg metro cops, arrested, and then thrown, into Hillbrow police cells for a night.
7. SAPS: "Please come back, we still don't want you"
Last week it was reported that the SAPS had launched a big recruitment drive to try to encourage former police officers, of good standing, to return to the service. Although this move was generally welcomed, questions were raised over whether it would succeed. In a statement Dirk Hermann, deputy secretary general of the Solidarity trade union, pointed out that the SAPS was still busy defending in court its refusal to promote or reemploy a number of white applicants.
In the M&G online Sello Alcock quoted Institute for Security Studies (ISS) senior researcher Johan Burger as saying "that most police officers left the police service ‘frustrated' and ‘disillusioned' by the affirmative-action policy. ‘The police department will have to find a way to address what made them [ex-officers] leave in the first place'."
6. Jon Qwelane - our man in Uganda?
In a move that would be reminiscent of the donation of coal to Newcastle, or of firecrackers to a petrol refinery, the possibility was mooted this week of President Zuma appointing Jon Qwelane as our ambassador to Uganda. On his constitutionally speaking blog Pierre de Vos explained why this was not a very good idea. Zapiro made much the same point in a cartoon.
5. Mantashe vs Sexwale
The week saw an extraordinary public slanging match between ANC secretary general, Gwede Mantashe, and housing minister Tokyo Sexwale. It was Nkululeko Ncana of The Times whose reporting drove the story.
4. World Cup Twitchiness Syndrome
Government it seems is becoming pretty twitchy about the effect unpatriotic crime stories will have on foreign attendance at the World Cup. Those South Africans without anything better to do on a Friday night than watch eTV news would have learnt, last week, that some of our criminals are pretty keen on robbing visitors to the World Cup. This would be instead of robbing South Africans in their own homes. Now, thanks to the overreaction from police commissioner, Bheki Cele et al, the entire world knows about it.
3. Corruption in crime intelligence?
The general fuss around the eTV broadcast stood in marked contrast to the silence around a far more worrying story run by Carte Blanche on MNet on Sunday night. It seems that individuals in crime intelligence have been feeding information to a gang of crooks - who then used it to extort money from dodgy businessmen. The story suggested frightening levels of corruption within the police service.
2. The extraordinary career of S'bu Mpisane
The Mercury this week ran a story by Wendy Jasson da Costa on the affairs of prominent KZN businesscouple S'bu and Shawn Mpisane. S'bu became famous a while back for driving to work in a Lamborghini and living in a R17m mansion, while still employed a metro police constable in Durban. The newspaper reported that: "Just three weeks after receiving R30-million from the eThekwini municipality [the couple] halted the completion of RDP housing projects in Umlazi, apparently because they have no money to continue the work."
"The last payment of R4 785 720 was made on December 14, two weeks before their A-list, bling party on New Year's Eve....Top-end whiskies and champagne flowed, while they splurged on special thrones and showed off their new Rolls-Royce. Guests included national police commissioner Bheki Cele."
1. Chancellor House and Eskom
Sometimes making news is not about breaking a story but about asking the right question at just the right moment. On Monday this week the ID's Lance Greyling released a statement querying whether the ANC stood to benefit - through Chancellor House's share in Hitachi Power Africa - from the massive tariff hikes Eskom is demanding. Stephen Grootes of Eye Witness News and the Daily Maverick put the question to Mantashe, provoked a ridiculous reply, and the big story of the week was set in motion.
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