DA leader John Steenhuisen. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen I’m not a great fan of hypocrisy. Perhaps that goes back to the time when I discovered that someone I knew in the army — a “Bible puncher” my father would have called him, because he was always trying to save us, the heathens, around him — got his girlfriend pregnant and his equally Christian (but rich) parents flew her overseas to have an abortion.
And, afterwards, no big surprise that he dumped her because, apparently, for some people, sticking to the second commandment — do unto others as you would have done unto you — is entirely optional. It will similarly come as no surprise to anyone that, after 40 years in journalism, I have found the biggest hypocrites — making Christian zealots look like amateurs — are politicians. All the high-flown speeches about caring for you, the voter, bringing about meaningful change in the country, standing up for what is right… are just so much hot air.
So, it was refreshing to hear DA insider-turned political commentator and pollster Gareth van Onselen come out with the unvarnished truth last week — that politics is a profession. Not a calling. Not a vocation.
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Not even a message From Above. It’s just another job. The first time I heard about this from DA circles was from a fellow journalist who, some years ago, had been looking into decidedly dodgy dealings in a municipality where the DA was strong.
He had asked a DA councillor to go on the record to confirm the behind-the-scenes rumours. No, was the answer, I’ve got my career to think about. In other words, I am more concerned about the continuity of my pay cheque than I am about revealing questionable behaviour.
It was particularly impactful for me because I had believed that, for all its many flaws, the DA was somehow different from the others at the political trough… like the ANC. Indeed, the DA would have no rhetoric if it did not have the mainstay of ANC cadre greed.
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