Two Bits – 20 December 2013

Geoff Pullan’s letter above reminded me that I had been standing on the steps of the Tongaat town hall with Geoff and the rest of the civic association when Mandela came to receive the Freedom of Tongaat way back when.
It was all a bit confusing, but I think Rogers Govender presented Mandela with the silver shield awarding him the freedom of the town and Logie Naidoo gave him another plaque commemorating the same event.
Anyhow, I remarked to Geoff how the likeable Logie, who had been quite a slender fellow at the time, had expanded over the years to fill his new roles, first at deputy mayor of Ethekwini and now speaker of the metro council.
You can see for yourself the effect of all those mayoral banquets below.

But Geoff’s reply takes the cake. He wrote:
“It’s this modern technology.  The newer photographic equipment manages to wrap around its subject, and give it more body.”
* * *
The man everybody loves to hate, Julius Malema, was spotted indulging in the pleasures of Zimbali Lodge last week.
Juju, he the hero of the toiling classes, the one who wants to nationalise everything and set the economy free, the one who owes the taxman something like R16 million and counting, spent a week there with an entourage including at least four bodyguards.
At about R800 per person per day – I’ll be generous and say he got a special offer – plus meals, plus Johnny Walker Blue, plus everything else – that’s quite a lot of economic freedom. Maybe he’s found a new sponsor?
* * *
It hasn’t taken long for those who love conspiracies to come up with ‘proof’ that Mandela had been dead for months, and that his death announcement was delayed to allow the government to rebuild Mthatha airport, fix the Transkei roads and a lot else, cover up Nkandla, and a whole lot besides.
Surely it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that the old man had been on his way out since July at the very least.
Ironic though, that the people who circulate conspiracy stuff on the internet are usually the first to tell us that the government is too stupid to get anything right. Too stupid to fix the streetlights but fiendishly clever in devising plots to fool us? These are the guys who hired a fake interpreter, remember. Come on!
* * *
In church I heard a sweet elderly lady in the pew next to me saying this prayer:
“Dear Lord, This has been a tough four to five years. You have taken my favourite actor Patrick Swayze. My favourite musician Michael Jackson. My favourite blues singer Amy Winehouse. My favourite actress Elizabeth Taylor. My favourite singer Whitney Houston. And now my favourite president, Nelson Mandela.
“I just want you to know that my favourite politicians are Robert Mugabe, Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema. Amen.”