Cape Town - Nerds, natty dressers and techno geeks – that’s who runs South Africa if the gifts received by cabinet ministers are anything to go by.
At least 50 books featured in the list of presents to members of the executive recorded in the Register of Members’ Interests, tabled this week.
If books are Trojan horses for ideas, someone is trying to convince the cabinet the answer to our problems lies in working together (doh!).
The book, Solution Revolution: How Business, Government and Social Enterprises are Teaming up to Solve Society’s Toughest Problems, is now on the bedside tables of at least four ministers.
Cellphones, tablets and memory sticks were among the more common gifts.
There was even a thermo-electric cooler for Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom.
We know President Jacob Zuma’s executive likes to let its collective hair down: tickets to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival were among the hottest gift items on the list.
Deputy Social Development Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu should be among the least stressed of her colleagues after receiving a R2 000 massage voucher.
There were plenty of trinkets and fine clothing: Cartier cufflinks and a Fabiani golf shirt for the ever dapper Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba, and a blue costume necklace with blue beads and costume earrings and another necklace for Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor.
It is to be hoped the many bottles of the finest liquor have been shared with friends, rather than consumed alone.
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula will never have to buy another golf shirt, peak cap or ball, though Transport Minister Dipuo Peters must be wondering what she did to deserve binoculars, braai tongs, a woodwind instrument and a bicycle.
Still, she can be grateful she’s not Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Pravin Gordhan, who listed only one token of appreciation for his erstwhile role of guiding the country through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression: a bowl of fruit.
Political Bureau