Who do South Africans have turn to place their trust? From politicians – who we are now used to – to political analysts, it is evident that the atmosphere is populated by dishonest people.
This is considering the recent scandal of the so-called “unauthorised” biography of Herman Mashaba by political analyst Prince Mashele, who has been caught out in a bald-faced lie hiding the fact that Mashaba actually paid him about R12 million to write the book, which he continues to assert was for “research”.
For Mashele, who masquerades in public spaces as an “independent political analyst”, the fallout is going to be shattering because no selfrespecting person is ever going to listen to his “independent analyses” of political issues after this debacle.
Mashele also wants to hide behind the spurious reason that he did not disclose this payment from Mashaba to his publishers because he was not legally obliged to do so.
This may sound right, but it is morally wrong and bereft of any integrity that he misled his publishers and did not disclose this material fact, pretending he was involved in “independent research” on Mashaba when he had been paid to do so.
There are politicians and political analysts out there who are honest, but the public must listen to all with a critical eye.
* Dr Thabisi Hoeane, Unisa Pretoria.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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