OUT TO LUNCH
___STEADY_PAYWALL___
It’s well known that the secret of good comedy is timing. It might be a well timed riposte or it may, as was often the case in the iconic series “Yes Minister”, just be a facial expression after a feeder line. The late Paul Eddington who played the part of Jim Hacker, the UK prime minister in the series, was a master of the art. Sometimes the laughs come from clever word play or what seems an unnaturally long pause which was a speciality of the late comic genius Peter Cook.
The trick there is to allow the audience to fully absorb the feeder line into their consciousness and then hit them with the really good comeback. A brilliantly funny sketch that Cook wrote early in his career is called “One leg too few” and is about a one legged actor auditioning for the role of Tarzan and is a comedy classic. Google it and watch it on YouTube (preferably the 1964 version).
The ANC also have a wonderful gift for comic timing. You would never guess it to look at their miserable faces sometimes but the introduction of the NHI Bill just as the country is about to be downgraded to junk and go, cap in hand, to someone/anyone who might lend us the money to keep the current charade on the road shows that, deep down, the ANC bigwigs like to have a good laugh at our expense.
The projected cost of the NHI debacle is reckoned to be about R450bln a year according to the IRR but I think we can safely assume that budget overruns will probably mean you can double that figure. You also need to add a substantial amount for introductory fees, consultancy fees and all manner of other kickbacks that the ANC will undoubtedly invent for their close family members along the way. We all know the way South Africa works don’t we?