Maybe an international klap is what SA leaders needed

Typically, when somebody gets legally confrontational with another, it’s because they have an important case to make. In this instance, between South Africa and Poland, I’m not so sure but I would love to see the SA government realise that they’re not as important as they make themselves out to be, especially not on the international stage.

Locally, they can run around with impunity amid allegations of selling illegal cigarettes, imposing ridiculous regulation to cover up and pass blame on their own failures and doing a host of wonderful other things that make petrol cheaper, lower interest rates and keep the country safe… or the opposite… whatever.

No matter how many commissions we set up and arrests we make, bad governance, incompetence and blatant corruption just seems to respawn as if we were in a video game with every cheat on.

However, in order to be in the video game, you need something to play it on and as much as you can jippo the game itself, cheating the PC or console is much closer to impossible. Equally in political exchanges, you can’t exactly get away with doing whatever you want on the world stage.

So, when things happen to you that you don’t like, there’s less you can do about it. You can’t exactly run to mommy or get the other kids to bully the little kid when you’re the little kid and getting increasingly smaller; that’s South Africa right now.

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And, when Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, calls a presser to announce that they are considering taking action against the Poles, you’ll be forgiven for hardly containing your laughter. If you did manage that, I’m willing to bet that in that same presser, you started laughing moments later when the United States embassy upset us, and we said “necessary steps” were taken.

Even the people who we’re supposed to be cosying up to must think we’re a joke when we send our lowly little frigate into military practice with some nuclear super powers. Maybe there was some truth to those hush-hush rumours about arms exports to Poland being banned by our local authorities. Regardless, it should come at no surprise that the Poles will be ever so slightly suspicious about some South Africans landing in their country with a couple of weapons for “presidential security” that were transported with a group of journos.

Let’s not forget the sheer audacity of the Poles for wanting original official documents too. How dare they expect our people to present something more official than copies.

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It’s really obvious that South Africa is taken less and less seriously on the international stage, even to our supposed allies. That massive delegation to seek peace in Ukraine and Russia hardly made a dent evidentially and just made us look a bunch of ineffective fools. Why would Putin even take us seriously when he knows he doesn’t need to? Why would anybody?

You’d think with so many ministers and advisers and a government wage bill to excite even Walmart, somebody could whisper in the ears of our leaders and say “hey, we’re not as awesome as we think we are to our international friends”.

Maybe it will take a nice international klapping to come to that realisation. Go for it Naledi! Take on the Poles and please keep us posted. While you’re at it, please tell us about our international successes, other than letting some ship dock and going on a lovely holiday to Russia that achieved (insert something here please).

While you’re doing that, I’m off on holiday. I’m excited to present a copy of my passport at OR Tambo International.

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