A good week for John Steenhuisen
DA leader John Steenhuisen had never gone into a contest as sure of victory as he did at the DA congress last weekend. Mpho Phalatse, his only opponent, was an also-ran from the start, but at least the former Joburg mayor brought a frisson of competition to the race for party leader. The re-election of Steenhuisen with 83% of the vote has, for the moment at least, invigorated democratic South Africa’s perennial biggest opposition party. Whether he can galvanise disparate potential partners for his “moonshot” landing against the ANC and EFF in 2024 remains an open question, however.
A bad week for Thozamile Botha
Thozamile Botha could learn from Antonio Conte. The former is chair of the South African Tourism board and the latter is Tottenham Hotspur’s outgoing manager. When the time came for Conte to give up after a series of embarrassing defeats, he went quietly. Botha, an activist in his youth and now an old party hack in need of a sinecure, is digging in his heels over the outrageous near-R1bn sliver-of-sleeve sponsorship deal with the English Premier League club. Everyone at Spurs, from management to fans, was against Conte; the same applies to Botha and his board’s wacky idea.
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