The President is cunning and that hooboo just called me broke

As much as you can try to change things, you can only do it if you decide to change yourself. This is probably a quote that illustrates a lot about the political stagnation that my beloved country is enduring. Things are stuck, and when I say stuck I mean really and rootedly stuck... a little bit when you try to swallow something bigger than your throat can handle, you probably suffocate if there is no one to give you water.  

The spearhead of the government of the DR Congo is probably traversing that moment of its meal and he is by astute means trying to make temporary friends. It is a political game. According to the constitution, we should have had a new president by the 19 December of 2016 but we didn't because the elections were not organised. 

The biggest crime that the government has committed against the people. 

Some palpable tensions have been coursing through the streets and roads of the country, especially in the capital since the organisation of the election could not be brought forward as thought and ideally conceived, this is a country where pragmatism lacks notoriously and inertia is a pandemic disease that eats up MPs and officials. Oh politics, it feels like chess that only one person plays swinging on either side of the board to predict the next move. 

More on the Congolese crisis here.

The fear of leadership vacuum is looming around in DR Congo and that is a great risk to some sort of hope that the country can come out of this crisis. It is a dance that our fathers danced with Mobutu and it ended with a lot of them breaking their ankles. They danced on the wrong melody and tune ; and in an inappropriate venue. 

All of this may and even seems very figurative but there is a lot of tension building and the best way to ensure that tension is channelled properly is to communicate with the population. The primary argument for the non-tenure of the election is finance, the second one, very much linked to the first, is that the electoral list or database needs to be updated as minors by then 2006, when the first elections were held are now eligible to vote, will not be able to vote because they are not in the system.

There is no money but there is an even bigger government now (67 ministers: simply put, portioning of power to content everyone. One might wonder whether the motives are political or financial) that will require more money to run, maintain and pay expenses for... It is a pathetic situation that shows no desire to move forward. What is true is that the president cannot do everything on his own. Politics works with the people, for the people and by the people. 

Except for those people you ask for a money at the street corner and treat you of broke when you don't give it them. This city is full of story. I'll always be amused and astounded by the diversity of some idiotic thinking that I come across every day

My take on South Africa politics and what I ate a #nandos

I have now been in South Africa for just about 4 years. Overall, this country is wonderful. I am being taught here, I have found loves and breakups, and love again... and I am trying to find my feet in the world of business, trying to make things for me. I am a business consultant and analyst, and sometimes a book editor. But enough of that. 

My concern is the beautiful country in which I now temporarily live. It saddens me to notice that the people of South Africa are not that willing to instigate some form of change in the best of the manner. They mostly choose violence and rioting protest that basically render them criminals instead of victims. 

And at some point, in the language of politics, there is a huge demagogy pushing the poor, oppressed and forgotten to go on the streets and protest. When people starve and have nowhere to sleep even the smallest satisfactory (promises) thing can easily buy their service.

I dedicated this blog to point of things that do not work out properly as they should. Not long ago, I read in the news a decadent and unfounded notion of justice: inequality should always be there to create balance and equality, so should the economy be the way it is because dependence create power and with power, one can govern. Apartheid stood for that for almost half a century and it nearly destroyed this country. If it was not for the visionary and conciliatory attitude of Nelson Mandela this country would not be what it is now; a place where a lot of immigrants come invest and learn. 

The way things are going with the actually governing body shows that South Africa is driving in reverse to the past with sight of the future. The president, the Guptas, officials... it just seems like everyone who governs the country is corrupted. I probably come from a country where those who govern do not want to move out of power, with slick manipulation, solid and politically perversive tricks they cement their power for years and decades. It seems like that cycle is starting to spin in SA. The governing party is unable to oust the very man bringing down the country in all its aspects. One would wonder which leverage he has and how he does that. Or maybe he should just stay to be easily manipulated. 

I am not great at politics, not that much. However, all that the news display these past few days pivots around either the implication of the Gupta's in the political affairs or the internal ANC unrest or the EFF going more berserk than they already are. I wish I just wrote about the nearly non-existent portion of chips that Nandos served me for 24 Rand when I ate there. I understand that there is inflation but that did not cost me as much as half a bag of potatoes. 

Nandos chips. really 24 Rand for this.