Judging by the comments on social media and in the press the decision by the National Empowerment Fund to loan Ndalo Luxury Ventures R34 million of taxpayer's money to fund "Luminance", a new boutique for the super-rich in Hyde Park, presages the end of the world as we know it. It is the grossest example of crony capitalism at work and highly inappropriate in a country where the cost of one item of clothing at Luminance would feed a family of six for a year.
I'm afraid I made that last statistic up but I think you'll agree that it has the shrill note of outrage so beloved of ill researched tabloid journalism. You don't have to wear a red beret to be outraged by such things.
The Economic Freedom Fighters say that Ndalo boss Khanyi Dhlomo must hand back the R34m, presumably so that it can be better used to help fund crackpot building schemes thought up by chubby, semi literate men in red berets. This might put Ms Dhlomo and her new venture in a tight spot though because she presumably borrowed the R34m because she needed it for the business and not simply to annoy the reds.
For the record, I am totally on the side of Khanyi Dhlomo and to report the NEF's loan as a "windfall" as one newspaper did is appallingly shoddy journalism. This is a perfectly normal business venture and the amount is not excessive bearing in mind the nature of the business and the location of the store. The problem seems to be the fact that Khanyi Dhlomo is a well known personality and therefore, according to ill founded criticism, she must have used her influence to swing this loan. Maybe she did and maybe she didn't but it would be absurd to suggest that anyone who happens to be a well known personality should be starved of capital for a new business venture.
Two years ago Ms Dhlomo featured in an article in the local Forbes magazine in a series entitled "Africa's Most Successful Women". She made history at the age of twenty as the SABC's first black newscaster as long ago as 1995. As one fan commented in the Forbes article "We watched the news because we wanted to see Khanyi Dhlomo on TV. Seeing her on TV made us sleep well at night". That tends to overplay her pin-up appeal at the expense of her sheer professionalism at presenting the news. She was always poised and elegant and had the most superb speaking voice to the obvious surprise of many white viewers back then, this one included.
After a relatively short spell at the SABC she moved to her greater love, print journalism, and worked as a fashion and beauty assistant on True Love magazine. This turned out to be a fairly menial position but within a short time Khanyi was appointed editor of the magazine. OMG... affirmative action gone mad some thought.