Honourable Chair,
I would like to assume the role of a TV critic, as Parliament has become the public’s firm favourite in our connected age.
The members present and the public watching have been entertained by another session of what is best described as the pilot episode of a new soap opera called “9 Months of Electionitis”.
In this pilot episode we saw a couple of themes being set up for viewer entertainment over the coming electoral season:
Let’s start with the main actor, an aging and declining former A-list movie star, who recently went to the plastic surgeon to get a cosmetic makeover – the ANC – who wants to reboot his fading career in government.
In this reboot the nostalgia of the struggle is evoked and amplified in the hope that former fans of the actor watch the show.
Artificial tension is created with other characters, or in this case racial groups – a sure winner in the instantaneously explosive world of social media, to boost ratings.
Dramatic effect, poorly executed because not all ANC members read the original script, in the form of an about-turn on our Constitution, is used to titillate a largely misunderstood target market.
Fake props, like the premature re-introduction of the opening of land claims, are used to distract the audience from watching other shows, specifically other competing series called (The Betrayal of Beneficiaries), the Forgotten Poor, especially those on communal and state land – far more compelling as it is rooted in reality.
Above all, this show suffers from the same defects of previous shows aimed at rebooting this tiresome actor:
A budget that does not match the hype;
Lots of money spent on friends of the actor with no improvement;
Lots of poorly crafted policies never properly thought through;
It is shockingly poorly staffed on the set and somehow constantly fails, by its own reviews, to get the storyline going.
Increasingly another show called “Property Rights for the Poor”, a show supported especially by the governments of Coalition Metros and the Western Cape Provincial Government is the talk of the town.
This show demonstrates a real human interest angle, compelling as it relates to the real experiences of struggling South Africans.
It decisively shows how South Africans form inspiring partnerships to make Land Reform work.It recounts the wonderful story of title deeds being conveyed and the self-confidence and pride it gives to new stakeholders in our economy.
It shows how a caring government provides proper support to beneficiaries and like all good series, keeps innovating and attracting bigger budgets.
“9 Months of Electionitis” seems to be a cobbled together script; characterised by complicated fights around artistic direction and will fail unless it emulates the successes seen in the Western Cape and Coalition Metros.
Already actors are leaving the set and rumours of infighting abound.
This actor should maybe accept that it is time to retire.