Paying for Propaganda

I remember when the government-aligned New Age newspaper hit the streets. I wandered across to the supermarket in the morning and there it was proudly boasting that, like tik from a schoolyard dealer, the first one was free.

By the end of the day the massive pile was untouched – they literally couldn’t give it away. Not surprising because, as Julius Malema no doubt realised long ago, we are all “bastard agents” in the Western Cape.

So I could only groan upon news that another government publication, Vuk'uzenzelei, will be hitting the streets in April.

Published by 'coloured-redistributer' Jimmy Manyi (see: 'Too Many Capeys in Cape Town?'), the monthly tabloid will be free to the public. It will also be free of commercial advertising, lest it “clutter” the newspaper. “It might create confusion. Don't be surprised if we don't allow commercial advertising,” said Jimmy.

So the first question from any taxpaying packhorse would be, “Well then who’s paying for it?”

You are, of course! Propaganda don’t come cheap, and you can’t expect Zuma to forgo his right to a BMW for each of his wives.

And it definitely won’t come cheap. Jimmy told probably less-than-awe-inspired journalists, “We want it on the streets, in every township and rural area. It will be bigger than all of you guys put together!”

And with an impressive print run of 2 million copies each month at a cost of R1-million per edition, you can bet it will be the most pricey distribution of toilet paper and birdcage-lining in the history of the world!

Unless they somehow get people to read it, which fills me with dread of Lynne Brown as a ‘Page 3’ girl, and a ‘How to pick up chicks’ column penned by Jacob Zuma.

One can only hope that the taxpayers will march on Parliament to stop this nonsense, and that the unemployed will question whether R1-mill-a-month could be better spent elsewhere.