Simon Lincoln Reader is fed up with liberals, their scheming, their guilt and their whiteshaming. He asserts that these hang-ups and racial hatred allow the corrupt to play the victim, hiding behind constructed claims of bias and discrimination. Reader warns that South Africa’s leadership and its media must surpass their fear of losing followers and do what is right. Today’s cowardice will be etched in the history books as they recall the country’s ruin if no one takes a stand against brazen criminals. – Melani Nathan
South Africa better appeal John Hlophe’s ruling – or else
By Simon Lincoln Reader*
It was only because of a lovely old seamstress called Martha – and my friend Grantâs restaurant – that I didnât bomb the shops in Parkview when I lived in Johannesburg. As awkward as I would have felt I just could not think of a better way to stop white liberals assembling and scheming.
It was there where I first heard a well-known sneering liberal telling others what a wonderful chap John Hlophe was and how everyone should cease the shit-talking; I donât know if it was Jeremy Gordin or Ray Hartley, but they were always there too, plotting – I donât know – a GoFundMe page for Colleen Chauke or something. But that unwarranted flattery for John Hlophe was the early stages of what has inspired the crap that Rebecca Davis writes about today – alongside talentless, Nazi-bondage funded anti-semites like Nafeez Ahmed – in the Daily Moron, attacking PANDA and its founder Nick Hudson.
John Hlophe is like a cartel boss and Bongani Bongo is like a talented thug, so what happened in court last week wasnât so much a ruling as it was an eye-ing up – flirtation – between the established godfather, and the rising, if somewhat isolated street king – whose previous benefactor is stuck counting onions with Dudu Myeni. Hlophe has long been sympathetic to the profile of Jacob Zumaâs village gangster – he would have been impressed at just how brazen Bongoâs overtures to Nthuthuzelo Vanara were in trying to kill off the parliamentary enquiry into Eskom. Because it wouldnât be good form to say: âI like you, young Tony Montana, so come with us tomorrow to collect the rent, 9am sharp,â Hlophe instead spent 27 pages on wankerese, before he happily dismissed the charges with a signature akin to a hurricane at a sewage treatment facility.
Hlophe is no clown: take a look at the list of surnames he has skirmished with – Traverso, Gauntlett, Jafta, Nkabinde, Goliath – some virtually legal royalty, and yet Hlophe is still there, brooding, awaiting opportunities just like the one that appeared last week to get one back for the bad guys – for the Lungisas, the Magashules. That alone indicates formidable, calculating intellect, which would probably be much more effective were it not contaminated by such racial hatred – which has always been his problem (and he doesnât give a monkey’s about the sympathetic things a few guilty white consciences muttered in Tyrone Avenue – so well done you lot for spending so much time castigating Helen Zille for her meany tweets – really, thanks).
I was impressed when Hlophe converted to Islam, not only because it would mean having to sacrifice the wine he once asked for payrise to make, but because he was constructing around him an impenetrable shield of intersectional grievance. Having already cornered one issue, race, he was rapidly onto another by accusing no less than his own Chief Justice of âislamaphobiaâ (which isnât actually a word, or even a thing) for comments Mogoeng Mogoeng made on the subject of Palestine. The logical progression from this point, I thought at the time, would be to demand a wheelchair ramp to the High Court – at which point John Hlophe could celebrate the most accomplished victimhood in South African history.
Hlophe has been a very real, serious problem for a very long time, and nobody knows what to do about it. Politicians are terrified of losing followers and journalists – like Rebecca Davis – would rather whiteshame their way around Dr Seussâ catalogue or a nauseating Facebook confessional – which leaves the public not only scared but with a more damaged faith in the countryâs most important institution.
Scholars argue that the state should appeal Bongoâs acquittal. I donât know if thereâs a choice, because it certainly feels like if they donât, this moment will etch itself in the countryâs future, and become like a critical piece of pilot error evidence in a giant air crash investigation.
- Simon Lincoln Reader works and lives in London. You can follow him on Substack.
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