A lot happened in 2025. Here is a round-up of moemish moments from high-profile South Africans
If there was a year that could epitomise a bloopers segment, 2025 would be it.
This was a year punctuated with immeasurable moments of “yoh”, “no way”, and “bathong”– a Sotho exclamation of shock loosely translated to “you guys!?”.
So much so that we could write a book on it as thick as former president Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom.
As 2025 wraps, here are some of the moemishes of the year that left us with our palms to our faces.
Tebogo Malaka
Independent Development Trust (IDT) CEO Tebogo Malaka was largely under the radar when the government agency’s board placed her on precautionary suspension in August.
This was after Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson released findings from a PwC investigation that probed a R836 million oxygen plant tender to supply systems to 60 state hospital facilities across the country.
The report identified Malaka and IDT’s general manager of supply chain management, Molebedi Sisi, as key players in approving the contracts.
Malaka’s appointment as CEO had previously drawn scrutiny after allegations emerged that she was permanently appointed despite facing accusations of procurement irregularities related to a R45 million lease agreement.
The suspended CEO allegedly approved the deal without notifying the IDT board.
As if there wasn’t enough drama surrounding her, Malaka did the unthinkable.
She and her spokesperson Phasha Makgolane were caught on camera attempting to bribe Daily Maverick journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh into halting his investigations into her.
Myburgh had been investigating an IDT contract and one of Malaka’s luxury properties in Waterfall, Gauteng.
The pair allegedly offered the reporter R60 000 to kill the story.
In the released video, Malaka can be heard pleading with the journalist.
“I just want to close this chapter. It’s too much. I have kids, I have parents, my parents are old, they were sick, they couldn’t sleep over the last weekend. It’s bad,” she said.
Following the “exposé”, Malaka claimed she was set up.
Despite Macpherson laying a criminal charge against her, no action has been taken yet.
ALSO READ: Fake licence and ballooned budget: PwC report places IDT seniors at centre of R800m oxygen tender
AfriForum and Solidarity
Terrible things are happening in South Africa, according to Afrikaans lobby group AfriForum, trade union Solidarity and their most-trusted US ally, President Donald Trump.
What started as a “tattling” trip to the US snowballed into events that eventually led to Trump not attending the G20 Leaders’ Summit and not inviting SA to the next one, which will be hosted by the US.
It was not the first time AfriForum ran to Trump regarding South Africa’s land reform policies. They pulled a similar stunt during his first term as US president in 2018.
This time around, their blinkers prevented them from foreseeing Trump punishing the whole country instead.
The group travelled to the US to hand over a “Washington memorandum” that called for humanitarian assistance for Afrikaans community development.
Their visit followed Trump’s executive order freezing financial aid to South Africa in response to the Land Expropriation Act and the country’s genocide case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
They also spread misinformation of a white genocide in South Africa, claiming white farmers were being killed.
What they didn’t expect, however, was the 30% tariff that Trump imposed on South African exports, which severely affected those same farmers’ livelihoods.
Commenting after the US president announced the tariff, People’s Movement for Change’s national coordinator Zandre Allen said the unfounded claims of white genocide, land grabs and violation of human rights were far from reality in South Africa – and AfriForum must take the blame for the latest developments.
“This is not the result of government policy, but of reckless political grandstanding by individuals like [AfriForum CEO] Kallie Kriel, who made it their mission to draw Donald Trump’s attention to South Africa in the most destructive way possible,” Allen said.
Instead of shouldering some of the blame, the lobby group passed it on to South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“AfriForum holds President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ANC-led government directly responsible for the 30% tariff that US President Donald Trump announced yesterday on imports from South Africa,” AfriForum said in a statement at the time.
“The organisation maintains that Ramaphosa and his government falsely tried to dismiss the US’ concerns as the result of misinformation when they should have instead acknowledged and actively resolved the US concerns.
“According to AfriForum, the country is now reaping the bitter fruits of the government’s failure to do so.”
ALSO READ: ANC blames AfriForum for Trump funding fiasco
Senzo Mchunu
Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s 2024 directive to disband the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) political killings task team (PKTT) followed him into 2025 like a bad cloud.
Mchunu’s said his decision was based on a few factors, including untested complaints by violence and criminality expert Mary de Haas, South African Police Service official Patricia Mashale and MP Fadiel Adams.
During his testimony before the parliamentary ad hoc committee, Mchunu admitted that he didn’t consult the national and KZN police commissioner before making the decision.
The committee is investigating KZN police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s allegations of political interference in the criminal justice system.
Mchunu is one of the people at the centre of Mkhwanazi’s allegations.
He has been linked to several key figures in Mkwanazi’s allegations, including self-proclaimed undercover operative Oupa ‘Brown’ Mogotsi, organised crime accused Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala and murder accused businessman Katiso ‘KT’ Molefe.
As a result of the allegation, Ramaphosa suspended Mchunu and the police minister later stepped aside from political activities.
ALSO READ: Mchunu takes another hit following Madlanga commission and parliament revelations
Floyd Shivambu
Things were going well for Floyd Shivambu’s political career. He kicked of the year as the secretary-general of former president Jacob Zuma’s MK party, after leaving the EFF to join the party as its national organiser in 2024.
And just when things were looking up, Shivambu blundered.
He visited the Enlightened Christian Gathering Church, led by the controversial self-proclaimed prophet and fugitive Shepherd Bushiri, in Malawi.
Bushiri was arrested in South Africa in 2020 but fled the country soon after. He is wanted for alleged rape, contravention of bail conditions and forgery.
He and his wife Mary also face fraud charges.
Following Shivambu’s trip, the MK party distanced itself from it and removed him as the secretary-general.
The party said it would deploy him as a member of parliament. But it excluded his name from the list of MPs to be sworn in when the time came.
Shivambu refused to apologise amid the backlash.
“One thing I will never apologise for is when I went to see Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, and he said, ‘Let’s go to church’. I said, ‘I will go to church,’” he said.
“I am like those who say I am glad when they say, ‘Let us go unto the house of the Lord.’”
The differences between Shivambu and the MK party led to his expulsion in August, which he did not appeal.
In September, the former ANC, EFF and MK party member launched his own party, Afrika Mayibuye Movement.
The young party has already hit a few bumps. It fired deputy president Dr Nolubabalo Mcinga for misconduct in October after she allegedly had a meeting with Zuma.
She was replaced by Robert Nwedo, who stepped down from his role in November.
There have been other resignations in the lower structures of the party.
Political analyst Theo Neethling told The Citizen he believes Shivambu was better off in the EFF.
“In my assessment, Shivambu was better off in the EFF with Julius Malema as party leader. Their personalities were complimentary, with each other’s traits balancing the other and thus created a strong and effective whole needed for a party of substance,” he said.
He said the prospects for Shivambu’s party appear “dim”.
NOW READ: ‘Shivambu was better off in the EFF’: Is Afrika Mayibuye crashing before liftoff?
