Mmusi Maimane: The DA’s Pawn Star
There’s insufficient media attention to the sudden, positive appearance of Mmusi Maimane as the black, white-friendly hero of the DA. Maybe it’s because the media created that image so strongly that the public is reacting as if it he has always been in that spotlight – he hasn’t.
That 34-year-old Maimane was elevated so quickly should justify the perception and suspicion by many that he was selected by Helen Zille in her usual dictatorial style. There is no way that Zille, the control freak, would suddenly relinquish the reigns. What she really did was to market the party better and side-step the criticism that she, as leader of the DA, was failing to fight first-hand in Parliament. She gets to do all that whilst keeping her financially cushier job as Western Cape Premier.
I said “market the party better” because it’s political, logistical fact that Whites are becoming extinct whilst the Black population grows. As i’ve said for a long time, it’s primarily about gaining Black votes, even if that means sacrificing the liberal policies and voters which got the DA to where it is now. Power has an all too convenient habit of forgetting history whilst being greedy for the future.
Until now, i deliberately chose to ignore the leadership race between Wilmot James and Maimane because i believe that James would be less a puppet than Maimane and is, thus, destined to fail.
Watching the debate in the videos below (even the screen grabs are of Maimane not James), James was wiser with a clearer vision… but that doesn’t count in our world of no substance. Would you rather watch a young, inexperienced model or an old, experienced person have sex in a porn movie? Maimane is the DA’s porn star and pawn star; photogenic and charismatic, a salesman on a billboard more likely to demand attention from uneducated voters. The DA furthers its play of the ANC’s game.
Even if the election result has a chance at being different, it’s unlikely that the greatest issues, such as the DA’s support of affirmative action and BEE, would have altered.
Politically, the media don’t always play fair. It would be difficult to find an intelligent, reasonable person who believes that the media, as a whole, are reporting stories without bias. Nevertheless, the wilful ignorance of readers and viewers wins almost every time. Religious, double-talking Maimane will defeat James but his victory for South Africa will be bittersweet as he won’t be a political King, just a pawn of Zille and whoever anonymously funds the DA’s coffers with hundreds of millions of rands so as to determine our country’s future to their best profit.
This blog isn’t in support of James, even though i agree with him that the DA has become too much like the ANC. The wider point is that no matter whether it involves the DA or the ANC, we’re made to think that there are options but there can’t be so long as we play on the same chess board that is financially and politically rigged.
Patrick Soddoff, a Facebook subscriber, disagreed with me. His counter-argument made good points so i add it to this blog:
“I think you’re being purposely naive in your assumption that Maimane is a puppet porno star, shagging to Zille’s tune. He is way more than that. He is the exact billboard star everyone needs.
He is the polar opposite to the Zuma dog. But, judging the past 12 years has been an impossible task for the average South African, no matter their class. Time has been unkind to the voter in every country in the world, especially here… morphing from Madiba magic to the current Zuma Zarzuela.
Time, unfortunately, has a magical ability to erase vigilance. It’s not that the public has necessarily forgotten that danger can strike anytime anywhere (though some of them have). Many of them know full well that our culture is floating on a paper-thin ship in a turbulent sea. However, the disturbing trend today reveals that people have decided they do not care. “Taking the blue pill” is the rising rally cry from the so-called “new normal.” Yes, the economy is an illusion, the political system is an illusion and the various global conflicts our society participates in are mostly illusions, which is the exact reason we need a Maimane at the helm: he’s an illusion we can all believe in!
Whoever it is in power will shaft the people. That is a given in every single constituency on this planet, bar none, but mark my words, Maimane is his own man, through and through, and Zille and her banker cohorts will not have sway over him for too long.
These delusional distractions and intellectualized silver bullet solutions have to stop. Hard work and risk are all that are left, all that matters. If we do this, and if we do this now, then victory is possible. In any contest of strength and will, he who knows himself best, he who sheds all illusion, will survive any possible catastrophic event, and to tell people they are just being willfully ignorant only plays into the elitist plans for us all. It is a way more delicate balance than willful ignorance.
Updates: Read ‘Maimane Wins DA Leadership Race’ and ‘DA Leader Maimane’s Victory Speech‘.