A good week for John Steenhuisen
If any single politician has come out well from last week’s hectic horse-trading it was the leader of the DA.
A good week for John Steenhuisen
In just a few days John Steenhuisen moved from leader of the opposition to a member of the government, albeit one, in the GNU, that’s a cross between a wildebeest lying down with a wounded lion. If any single politician has come out well from last week’s hectic horse-trading it was the leader of the DA. He and his team struck hard bargains with the ANC that went beyond national government, to keeping Jacob Zuma out of power in KwaZulu-Natal and even bringing the dodgy Joburg administration, with its mayor, closer to a fall.
A bad week for Monde Lobese
Earlier this year, chief of the navy Vice-Admiral Monde Lobese was apparently channelling his inner Captain Kirk when declaring to boldly go where no South African warship had gone before. His plan was to send the frigate SAS Amatola from Simon’s Town to St Petersburg to join Russian navy celebrations. But it seems that’s a port too far for a vessel that has engine and radar trouble, and whose helicopters aren’t airworthy. The voyage of about 40,000km has been delayed. No date for setting sail has been revealed yet.