From obscurity to ‘useful idiot’: Gwamanda has done little as Joburg mayor

One of the tenets of efficient close protection – as executed by professional special forces operators – is not to attract attention to yourself or the high-value person you’re guarding.

Hiding in plain sight is something that our non-entity of a Johannesburg mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda, could quite easily do.

He is so dull and unremarkable that he could walk, unescorted, through our streets and not have to worry about being the victim of a political assassination.

He would probably have to be worried about being mugged, though, because this is Joburg, after all.

ALSO READ: Joburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda splurges over R6m per year for personal protection

Plucked from obscurity to be one of the “useful idiots” as Lenin once called them, Gwamanda has done little in his post of mayor other can keep parties other than his Al-Jama-ah party from occupying the chair.

But now, apparently, he must look over his shoulder for potential hitmen.

He now gets 10 bodyguards (five per 12-hour shift) and a collection of luxury vehicles to ride around in and share his wisdom, including “there is no water crisis”.

All this at a cost of R6 million per annum for already vexed and squeezed ratepayers.

And in the real world, the potholes grow bigger, the City Power switches short and the taps run dry.