You can’t ace politics using cheap populism, Magashule

Free State courts have suddenly become busy. A number of officials are on trial for corruption in various cases. This is indicative of the significant shift in our politics. 

The revival of electoral fortunes, for the ruling ANC, depends on them proving  they’re on a new path of renewal. Governance in the Free State, which has been under the ANC since 1994, perhaps more than any other province, is in desperate need of renewal. Things are so bad that Gwede Mantashe, the ANC’s national chairperson, recently remarked that government is effectively non-existent in that province.

The shambolic state of the Free State is illustrative of the hollowness of populism. The former premier of the province, Ace Magashule, styled himself as a “man of the people”. His presence was not only felt in every part of that territory but he claimed to prioritise the needs of his people. He meddled with the appointment of officials, some have asserted, down to the level of cleaners.