[OPINION] Elections to go ahead: This Concourt judgement could be the last favouring the nation at large

• Cliff Buchler, former Managing Editor of Caxton West Rand writes:

Forget about social distancing for a magic moment and give the Constitution Court judges a big old-fashioned bear hug.

And ladies, plant a wet kiss on their foreheads – it may just get a twitch or two from the judiciary unfamiliar with tributes from the public domain, especially lip-smacking ones.

Seriously, they deserve our grateful thanks for giving this year’s municipal elections the nod. We now have the hope that’s been elusive for at least a decade of ruinous reign. Suddenly I feel the rust peeling off painful joints, leaving me with a distinct spring in my step. In the shower I’m again singing “Happy days are here again”, whether or not neighbours either side of our apartment object. Sue me. And my imaginings are running riot – even transforming Zuma nightmares into fairytale dreams. Like the ANC being so cash-strapped that it auctions Luthuli House.

And who best to bid than John Steenhuizen who’ll need conveniently situated offices in Gauteng when his candidates take over the Joburg Municipality? However, the building needs a complete makeover. Tattered carpets over which many crooked cadres and sham company reps have trod, ripped up, walls repainted in blue, desks and chairs in offices where rigged tender procurement documents were signed, used as handy braai wood at the official reopening.

The office of the secretaries general retained as a museum, and not unlike in the case of National Party rule, a reminder of unfunny clowns responsible for the ultimate fall of Luthuli House a la ANC. Photos of these characters and their family members, party to extra-mural activities, complete a picture of misrule to date.

Oh, ask present staff for confirmation and spot the irony. What must not remain just a dream is real service delivery. Neglected pumps and pipes replaced, the inner city again a sought-after place in which to live and shop. Informal pavement shops providing an array of cosmopolitan goods for tourists. And not forgetting food stalls for on the spot chili-bites, spring rolls, koesisters and vetkoek. And mielies, still wrapped in their skins, cooked in a paraffin tin filled with boiling water over coals. There’s nothing like it when you’ve been shopping and feeling peckish.

There you have it. Or can have it, if you’re on the voters roll and prepared to join the queues to cast your vote. A once in a lifetime opportunity to firstly exterminate the local rats, then in 2024 the ruling ones.

This Concourt judgement could be the last favouring the nation at large. Check the ruins called Zimbabwe.