Thomas Johnson - The Blog

This is a slightly edited version of my comments to Politicsweb columnist Andrew Donaldson As a rule I don't read Andrew Donaldson's column in Politicsweb but this one caught my eye because "Cape Town" was in the title: How to write about Cape Town . Like Donaldson did before he emigrated to benighted Brexit Britain (I read a New York Times article last week where the writer quoted a Scottish comedian's sketch that perfectly summarised the MPs and government's self-imposed torture and confusion), I live in Cape Town and know it well including from urban and community development aspects. I'm not sure, though, why every week he writes about South Africa rather than the drab London weather or how the House of Commons is tearing the country apart (horrors, they got a reprieve from the Europeans they claim to hate). Please do Andrew, so that we may enjoy schadenfreude about a supposedly civilised race while our allegedly backward one slowly disintegrates...

Helen Zille has a few weeks left in office after a decade as premier of the Western Cape. Her devoted faithful among DA supporters - white supporters - including those who became disillusioned with the party of late but support her, sing her praises after an often tumultuous and scandal-racked two terms in office. They're with her to the end. I call them Zille's Army. An example of the smarmy praise singing is William Saunderson-Meyer's (WSM) column in Politicsweb on Saturday April 6. While he does criticise her, he does so lightly, leaving her considerable faults, faux pas and hubris untouched. What follows is an edited version of those posts. Saunderson-Meyer said: "[Zille] also made some spectacular tactical blunders, she bulldozed through a merger with Agang ... similarly, in her well-intentioned drive to change the DA’s race profile, she catapulted a naïve young woman." I thought WSM was going to add singing choir boy pastor-turned-politician Mumu...