In South Africa, anyone who is anyone is literally an ex-con. Nelson Mandela, Jacob Zuma (ex-con x 2), Tokyo Sexwale, Tony Yengeni, Carl Niehaus. You get the drift.
In 1994, the majority of us voted for a former convict. It’s no big deal in South Africa to find a former jailbird in Parliament or leading the country, and our freshest minister of sport, art and culture, Gayton McKenzie, of the Patriotic Alliance, is one such example.
A recent survey of about 1,000 participants suggested that citizens rate President Cyril Ramaphosa as the most popular politician, followed by former president and recent convict, Jacob Zuma, with McKenzie trailing at a modest third.
Julius Malema, it seems, has blipped off the radar for some self-care after his betrayal by former brother-in-VBS-alms Floyd Shivambu, now in the snug embrace of Malema’s mortal enemy, Zuma.
McKenzie is a charming and often combustive mixture of Muhammad Ali and any US rapper left you care to name whose reputation has not been sunk by Diddy’s attempts to resurrect Sodom and Gomorrah and suck in every US celebrity alive.
McKenzie’s public persona is that of the celebrity. He’s a large and dominating extrovert, a people’s politician, a former gangsta bank robber, sushi restaurant owner and a published author who carries a gun and is protected by an “entourage”.
Numero Uno. This we at Daily Maverick learnt when he appeared at The Gathering Twenty Twenty-Four in March.
One of McKenzie’s biggest champions is the odious “billionaire” Rob Hersov, who himself has behaved like an ageing Camps Bay rapper throwing a lavish birthday at his home in May 2022 and trying to smuggle a Russian “model” into the country.
Jokes-R-Us
From the moment McKenzie cracked a joke with former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo after taking his oath of office to honour the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, he’s been a media golden boy.
He gives good headline, as good as his promises.
After being told by Zondo “you may sit”, McKenzie quipped: “The last time a judge said that I spent 10 years in jail.” Ripples of laughter followed.
McKenzie has been quick out of the starting gates, posting social media videos of himself shaping up for the job, promising to open up sports and urging the resumption of the teaching of sports and culture at South Africa’s schools.
Not bad.
Meeting with the guiding lights of the Afrikaans festival circuit recently, however, McKenzie slipped on the performer, and made some questionable promises without listening to or hearing what the CEOs of these festivals had to say and have learnt in their years of hard work and experience.
His was an impulsive need to please and be liked, a trait Donald Trump suffers from, although all of this is draped with performance machismo.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/p33-Thamm-RID.jpg "From left: Gayton McKenzie at the Patriotic Alliance Victory Rally in May in Cape Town. The minister attends the rehearsal of 30 Years of Creative Freedom in September in Johannesburg. Back: Gayton McKenzie celebrates with the Springboks after they won the Rugby Championship final in September in Mbombela. (Photos: Brenton Geach, OJ Koloti and Dirk Kotze / Gallo Images)")
Two faces, maybe more
Here’s the thing. My excellent colleague Rebecca Davis conducted a comprehensive deep dive into the promises McKenzie has made and either honoured or broken during his political career.
It’s been patchy, it’s been suspect, it’s been controversial, but here he is.
Read more: Has Minister Gayton McKenzie really donated his salary to charity?
This weekend an unexpected conversation occurred in a coffee queue at an arts festival in Stellenbosch. McKenzie had just visited the Woordfees and had met artists and festival directors and had made some startling promises.
“If I can tell you something about Gayton McKenzie,” a famous actor leaned in to whisper, “he is the most incredible man.”
What followed was a story of McKenzie, a man who had been in jail, dealt with drug addiction and the sordid side of life that comes with it, who had driven through the night to counsel this man’s son who is a drug addict.
“He had given me a call when he heard about my son. He did this off his own bat. There are other things as well.” In this man’s eyes, McKenzie has redeemed himself, is a marshmallow deep down and is a loving servant of the people.
Of course there are many facets to Gayton McKenzie, seen and unseen, as is the case with every other human alive (perhaps not Trump).
Only difference is the rest of us are not politicians entrusted to act on behalf of the people to preserve their freedoms and rights.
Becoming a professional
McKenzie, with this new popularity poll, risks needing this daily fix, rather than undertaking to grasp the laws of this country and to honour his oath of office. It is a sacred duty.
For now, the man needs to learn to listen and absorb deeply before making promises. You’ve got the job, now learn the ropes and parameters.
Trump, like Narcissus, became so entranced by his own reflection that he has lost all capacity to grasp the fundamentals of democracy or freedom, or anything else. All that is left is pantomime. DM