Last week was SONA time again and a snorefest as usual as Cyril played the hypnotist with his monotonic monologue trying to get us to believe that all is well with the country.  He also had the difficult task of trying to calm the jitters on the ANC benches after the bashing they got at the polls.  While it was difficult to work up enthusiasm to write anything about it, SMAC has tried a new approach and provided a cover of a well known song to accompany the SMAC in the Face and to give hope to the ANC and their fellow travellers.  The lyrics are in the cartoon

(The attachment is proudly brought to you without the benefit of Autotune or any ability.  Since that never stopped the ANC from trying to run the country, why should it stop SMAC trying his hand at singing)

For more on this without the singing, go to …….

A SMAC in the Face #80:  SONA Time

SONA 2025 was like a traditional wedding as it featured something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in your shoe.

Something Old:  The red carpet this year again featured a number of posturing ‘mutton dressed as hams’ as if it was a matric farewell or a coming out party.  The bright spot is that their numbers are getting less.  The obnoxious EFF ‘fighters’ did their bit of toyi-toying while wearing their signature red overalls in solidarity with the downtrodden red carpet and workers.  Cyril, has always been at his sonorous best in delivering his vision for the future which, while not being as outrageous as Trump’s, has always been just as untethered from reality.  This year was no exception. His tedious introduction honouring guests lasted just short of 4 minutes and whole ponderous address an hour and 27 minutes.

After praising the dubious achievements of the ANC as usual, especially the 300 loadshedding free days after a decade and a half, and projecting an unachievable and pathetic 3% growth rate, Cyril ended on a high promoting the future of the cannabis and hemp industry.  Something, he averred, Africans were good at.  In between he talked up all the infrastructure projects and the establishment of a R100bn BEE Transformation Fund which would have seen countless tenderpreneurs salivating in anticipation and chugging back a Johnnie Walker Blue Label while checking out all the ANC apparatchiks they’ve got on speed dial.  (It was this thought that prompted the cartoon of Cyril singing for his and the ANC’s supper.)

Something New:  Thankfully this year the EFF did not rabble rouse with their pointless points of order and drag out an already tedious ceremonial event.  They were probably chastened by their drop in electoral support as they had expected to mop up all the disenchanted ANC voters.  They have also been shocked by the defection of many of their top members including Malema’s right-hand man and glowering henchman, Floyd Shivambu.  The MK Party toyi-toyied their way to their as the new kids on the block and the new official opposition.  To show that they’re not taking prisoners, they tastefully sported camouflage gear while Zuma’s daughter, Duduzile, sported shades throughout the event.

Something Borrowed:  As for the last two SONAs, the government had to borrow the Cape Town City Hall as the Parliamentary building which was burnt down more than three years ago has not been restored.  The rebuilding hasn’t even started yet.

Something Blue:  Blue is the colour that the ANC is feeling after its disastrous showing in the last elections when they lost their majority after 31 years of believing themselves to be untouchable.  Appropriately, blue is the colour of DA with whom they were forced to form a GNU (Government of National Unity).  No amount of improv bluster from the likes of ‘Fixfokol’ Mbalula can shore up the ANC.  The chickens have finally come home to roost.  The tide has receded and the ANC has been found to be naked.  The ANC has realised that you have to pay the ferryman after all and many other trite aphorisms. 

A Sixpence in Your Shoe:  This is emblematic of the parlous state of SA’s finances.  Decades of corruption, mismanagement and misguided transformation polices have resulted in deindustrialisation and rampant unemployment which has destroyed the tax base at local and national levels.  This has resulted in Bills like the NHI being passed which is a disguised tax raid so they don’t have to increase VAT or marginal tax rates which are benchmark items for investors.