Struwwelpeter: Kom ons kyk nou maar wie gaan wen: Die gryse akademikus of die jong prediker

BINNEKORT gaan die DA besluit oor sy nuwe leier. Hierdie gaan ‘n kritiese besluit wees, wat sekerlik die rigting van die DA se toekoms gaan bepaal.

Die twee voorloper-kandidate is Wilmot James en Mmusi Maimani.

James, in sy vroeë sestigs, het goeie akademiese kwalifikasies. Hy is ‘n Fullbright-beurshouer en oud-professor van sosiologie aan verskeie universiteite. Later is hy aangestel as uitvoerende direkteur van die Raad vir Geesteswetenskaplike Navorsing. Een van sy sterk punte is dat hy goeie konneksies het om geld vir die DA in te samel.

Die ander kandidaat, Maimani, is in sy dertigs en is ook goed gekwalifiseer. Hy het ‘n graad in sielkunde, ‘n meestersgraad in publieke administrasie van Wits, asook ‘n meestersgraad in teologie van die Universiteit van Wallis. Hy is ‘n Christen en ‘n deeltydse predikant.

Maar hy het ook durf en moed, ‘n uitstekende spreker. Dit het hy ‘n rukkie gelede bewys het toe hy vir Zuma in die oë gekyk het en hom direk in parlement aangespreek het: “Honourable President, you are not an honourable man. Your speech, read from a prepared text, are the words of a broken man, presiding over a broken society.”

Maimani het bewys dat hy op sy voete kan dink. Hy het ook ‘n redelike “sturm und drang” wat meer kiesers na die DA kan lok.

Kom ons kyk nou maar wie gaan wen: Die gryse akademikus of die jong prediker.

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Maar kom ons spekuleer ‘n bietjie: Wensdinkery: Sê nou maar net Maimani wen die DA leierstryd. En sê nou maar net die ANC raak ontslae van Zuma en sy linkervleuel parasiete.

Moenie vir Rhamaphosa onderskat nie – hy’s ryk uit eie reg en hy het nie nodig om mense om te koop om hom te ondersteun nie. En hy’s besonder intelligent.

Sê nou maar net dat, so ‘n jaar of twee vorentoe, kan Maimani en Ramaphosa ‘n koalisie vir die regtervleuel-ANC en die DA op die been kry. Dan sal ons ook, soos ander lande, ‘n ordentlike, eerliker regering geniet. Bygesê, as dit vir ons beskore is.

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Great Timeless Truths (Dankie Riaan)

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a government. John Adams

If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. Douglas Casey, classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. PJ O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavours to live at the expense of everybody else. Frederic Bastiat, French economist (1801-1850)

I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. Will Rogers

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. Voltaire (1764)

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you! Pericles (430 BC)

No man’s life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session. Mark Twain (1866)

Talk is cheap…except when government does it. Anon

The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. Ronald Reagan

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. Mark Twain

What this country needs is more unemployed politicians. Edward Langley, artist (1928-1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. Thomas Jefferson

We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. Aesop

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free! PJ O’Rourke