1|18 There seems to be a general misunderstanding of the EFF’s proposed national shutdown. It isn’t to protest, disrupt or intimidate, it is to test the revolutionary waters. Here is how: 2|18 Whatever you make of the EFF pseudo-revolutionary credentials externally, it is important to understand that, internally, the EFF absolutely regards itself as a revolutionary movement.

1|24 Long Thread. The DA is losing legitimacy, here is why: A look at the DA electoral performance over the last 20 years, in terms of votes won, and by party leader, with a view to some of the fundamental problems facing that party, and which PR won’t solve. 2|24 Here is the total number of votes the DA won in every election since 2004:
2004: 1,931,201 (Leon)
2006: 1,608,154 (Leon)
2009: 2,945,829 (Zille)
2011: 3,216,006 (Zille)
2014: 4,091,584 (Zille)
2016: 4,028,765 (Maimane)
2019: 3,621,188 (Maimane)
2021: 2,543,764 (Steenhuisen)

Thread. Some thoughts on Action SA. The party has two competing impulses: 1st, a disdain for the ANC and a desire to remove it from power. 2nd, a disdain for the DA, and a desire to replace it as the official opposition, absorb its representatives and eat into its market. 1|11 This has produced a conflict, between ASA on paper (opposed to the ANC) and its real world internal culture (the DA is the enemy - ASA is constituted almost entirely of ex-DA representatives, each of who feels aggrieved about the DA, and wishes to enact revenge on it). 2|11

Thread. Cyril Ramaphosa has yet to say a single directly critical thing about Jacob Zuma, and how he conducted himself as President. In the other direction, he has had a lot of positive things to say about Zuma (see here for example: inside-politics.org/2019/01/11/the…) 1/10 Ramaphosa now has Part 1 of the Zondo Report, which is damning about Zuma. He also has the ANC’s 8 January speech to deliver. It would seem the perfect opportunity for Ramaphosa to directly and honesty address Zuma’s legacy. 2/10

In 2008 @RyanCoetzee, then DA CEO, started the DA Young Leaders program. Today, its alumni include Solly Malatsi, Cilliers Brink, Nicole Graham, Gwen Ngwenya, Ashor Sarupen, Geordin Hill-Lewis, Mbali Ntuli, Magashule Gana, Mirelle Wegner, Siviwe Gwarube, many others besides. 1/4 They have, between them, risen to the highest ranks, as political heads, as public representatives and within government. MPs, MPLs, Councilors, Mayors. The names above only touch on the full cohort now out there and in the DA. Too many to mention. 2/4

1/16 Thread on some of the ANC’s more infamous election quotes. The mad, the bad, and the sad. Let’s start with an oldie but a goodie - That time the ANC said service delivery was only for people who voted ANC:

https://twitter.com/quotesanc/status/1021042398460284933

2/16 That time the ANC said it won’t be pressured by people using their vote to demand better deliver, because those were “dirty votes”:

https://twitter.com/QuotesAnc/status/1023128856671207426

Thread. One of the great contradictions of our age is almost ubiquitous ANC corruption, across the board, well-evidenced and serious, and yet not a single ANC cadre (certainly not anyone in high office) who has ever admitted to actually being guilty of corruption. 1/8 The result is a curious set of circumstances, whereby you have the president endlessly promising to end corruption, which he says is an acute problem, and pleading with his members for a culture of clean governance, and yet clearly no one ever thinks he is talking about them. 2/8

Regards IEC decision, there will be an impulse among some, who regard the law as inherently moral, to argue, because it was lawful, the IEC’s decision was “right”. It was lawful, fine, but it was also to accommodate incompetence. That is a problem. 1/4 Just because something is lawful, doesn’t mean it is morally pure. A multi-billion Rand VIP protection budget is lawful, but ethically questionable. Just like “the law” allows for every cabinet member to have a new BMW. 2/4

Short thread on Action SA. The party has said it will be competing in just six municipalities: Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Newcastle and KwaDukuza. This tells you a number of things. 1/10 First, much of Action SA’s own hype, when establishing itself, was clearly manufactured. Mashaba said, when forming ASA, and after travelling country: “We were given a mandate by 2.4 million South Africans to contest in the upcoming elections.” 2/10

Thread. At 2am on Wednesday, 200 people in Zandspruit rounded up 9 youths accused of theft and violence, and took them to a field. There, they stripped them naked, beat and set them on fire, using petrol and tyres. 4 died on sight, 1 in hospital, 3 are in critical condition. The first two things to notice here, aside from the unspeakable horror of it, is the number of perpetrators and victims. This was a massacre, carried out by a horde of murderers. The word “mob” is too limited. And the word “justice”, entirely inappropriate.

1/9 Thread. I am afraid this is a terrible summary that collapses in on itself, under the weight of its own contradictions. Some thoughts, then, on the ST interview with Steenhuisen. 2/9 First, the DA up in arms about interview. They say Steenhuisen was misrepresented. Fine, intent is really what matters here and if the DA doesn’t actually want to work with Ramaphosa - understood. Good. That clears that up.

Thread. This is revealing. It tells you two things: 1. The much revered minister is perfectly capable of Zuma/Malema-like racial demagoguery when under pressure. And 2. He is under serious pressure. The purpose of the tweet is to detract from that pressure. 1/7

https://twitter.com/tito_mboweni/status/1359487161628839937

What is the pressure? Well, Mboweni’s goals have been decimated. Not by racist while South Africans, but by the alliance. SAA, Eskom unbundling, austerity, the public wage bill - Mboweni’s personal agenda is in tatters. He is a lame duck. So he played the race card. 2/7

Thread. A few additional thoughts on the SSA and state capture. One thing the Zondo Commission is systematically doing, is making “state capture” - an idea that once revolved entirely around the Guptas - increasingly redundant in light of what the ANC has been up to. 1/9 Sure, the Guptas got up to a lot of corruption and must be held to account but what these SSA revelations have done is reveal that the greatest enemy of the state, is the ANC itself. Can a governing party capture the state? Sure, and the SSA is key to understanding how. 2/9

Thread. A few questions about the SSA and oversight. If all that has been said before the Zondo Commission is true, there had been a profound failure of oversight. Let us start at the top and with the president. How is it possible Ramaphosa was unaware of this all? 1/7 If he was it is an indictment, if he wasn’t it is a greater indictment. R9bn unaccounted for? Is Ramaphosa going to say he is shocked? Why has no one put a question to the president about an entity he, of few people, would have had complete oversight of? 2/7

A thread about anger. I’m quite angry right now. We all are. If you care about rationality, you try to suppress the rage you feel at the incompetence of the state. You try to be practical, in the hope that sense and reason has more impact than incandescent fury. It does not. 1/ This government is: 1. Grossly incompetent. 2. Profoundly negligent. 3. Destructively stubborn. You can say it is held hostage by ideology. Perhaps, but let me tell you this for free: The ANC could be the embodiment of free enterprise, it would still destroy the whole economy. 2/

1. Lindiwe Sisulu – where the ANC’s compromised and disgraced go to die. A thread on the national minister of human settlements, water and sanitation minister, and her proclivity to provide a safe haven for the ANC’s dregs. 2. Sisulu has appointed disgraced former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini as chairperson of the Social Housing Regulatory Authority interim board. For those not in the know, Dlamini brought social development to its knees, and lied to the Constitutional Court.