Redi Direko
Redi Direko
I would like to be so presumptuous as to assume our president, Kgalema Motlanthe, could use all the encouragement he can get right now.
The issues around which he is being crucified call for a level of compassion.
After all, many a great man has found himself choking from taking too large a bite of the forbidden fruit - if you know what I mean.
So something tells me that our beleaguered president is sadly humming the tune It's All Because of a Woman by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.
But before I kindly proffer my advice and encouragement to our Don Juan, though some prefer to call him a "lonely monk", I have a few questions that give my head no rest.
How do you explain the fact that many great men have been so bewitched by the scent of a woman that they have trashed their own hard-earned legacy?
This is what we women find so fascinating about men: why does an intelligent, resourceful and powerful man court trouble and single-handedly negate all his hard-won achievements?
The mind just boggles.
Think about Macbeth, whose devotion to his feisty consort saw him abandon any moral scruples in pursuit of ambition - his and hers. Lady Macbeth renounces her femininity and taunts her husband, calling him weak if he does not assassinate King Duncan. Of course, he happily obliges her and lives to regret it.
He would not have resorted to such evil were it not for the love of his woman.
Fast forward, hundreds of years later, the world meets a philanderer of note. Except he is not just a philanderer, he is the president of the world's most powerful nation, the US.
Bill Clinton, for all his great political acumen and brilliance, succumbed to the charms of women.
But I insist that the US is not worse off because Clinton had the unfortunate weakness of sometimes using another part of his anatomy instead of his brain.
Ask Monica Lewinsky for details.
If it is true that Motlanthe has a taste for, shall I say, younger and finer things in life, then I ask with tears in my eyes: "What is the problem?"
His own wife says she is "fine" with his affairs, his two alleged lovers seem content, so what exactly is the problem?
Before my fellow feminists cry foul, I can bet you my last dollar that all the women involved in this saga knew about each other long before these gory revelations.
So they made a choice.
Since when is that an abominable crime? Sure this is a man's world, but when it comes to these matters I see women helping men build this world.
I must say I never took Motlanthe for a casanova, but hey, still waters run deep.
I get a sense the president is lonely right now and is constantly pulling knives from his back.
How fascinating that his rivals could not find anything related to his work and leadership around which to betray him, but a woman.
Come on Mr President, you must have known that you couldn't put a lid on these kinds of things. If you are worried about your legacy and image, take it from me, this too will pass.
Unlike Macbeth and Clinton, you did not know that one day there would be a major recall and you'd have to step into The Intellectual's shoes. It's so unfair of everyone to expect you to dump your ladies for a six-month presidency. Life goes on long after you leave Mahlambandlopfu.
This is not the biggest crisis this country has ever faced. After all, our next president has a couple of wives with the option to acquire more, so I guess Motlanthe is preparing us for what's to come.
So sir, as you prepare the state of the nation address, please remember to tell us how our country will survive the abyss of crime and lawlessness.
Tell us how we are going to restore the dignity and livelihood of men and women who are gutted and desolate because they cannot find work and thus secure a future for their children.
Tell us, Mr President, how we can affirm our children by giving them the solid and precious gift of education.
Once you have done that, you can go back to your ladies.
But please use a condom.
l Redi Direko is a 702 Talk Radio show host and an e.tv news presenter
PRESIDENT'S sex life no crisis
Redi Direko
Redi Direko
I would like to be so presumptuous as to assume our president, Kgalema Motlanthe, could use all the encouragement he can get right now.
The issues around which he is being crucified call for a level of compassion.
After all, many a great man has found himself choking from taking too large a bite of the forbidden fruit - if you know what I mean.
So something tells me that our beleaguered president is sadly humming the tune It's All Because of a Woman by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.
But before I kindly proffer my advice and encouragement to our Don Juan, though some prefer to call him a "lonely monk", I have a few questions that give my head no rest.
How do you explain the fact that many great men have been so bewitched by the scent of a woman that they have trashed their own hard-earned legacy?
This is what we women find so fascinating about men: why does an intelligent, resourceful and powerful man court trouble and single-handedly negate all his hard-won achievements?
The mind just boggles.
Think about Macbeth, whose devotion to his feisty consort saw him abandon any moral scruples in pursuit of ambition - his and hers. Lady Macbeth renounces her femininity and taunts her husband, calling him weak if he does not assassinate King Duncan. Of course, he happily obliges her and lives to regret it.
He would not have resorted to such evil were it not for the love of his woman.
Fast forward, hundreds of years later, the world meets a philanderer of note. Except he is not just a philanderer, he is the president of the world's most powerful nation, the US.
Bill Clinton, for all his great political acumen and brilliance, succumbed to the charms of women.
But I insist that the US is not worse off because Clinton had the unfortunate weakness of sometimes using another part of his anatomy instead of his brain.
Ask Monica Lewinsky for details.
If it is true that Motlanthe has a taste for, shall I say, younger and finer things in life, then I ask with tears in my eyes: "What is the problem?"
His own wife says she is "fine" with his affairs, his two alleged lovers seem content, so what exactly is the problem?
Before my fellow feminists cry foul, I can bet you my last dollar that all the women involved in this saga knew about each other long before these gory revelations.
So they made a choice.
Since when is that an abominable crime? Sure this is a man's world, but when it comes to these matters I see women helping men build this world.
I must say I never took Motlanthe for a casanova, but hey, still waters run deep.
I get a sense the president is lonely right now and is constantly pulling knives from his back.
How fascinating that his rivals could not find anything related to his work and leadership around which to betray him, but a woman.
Come on Mr President, you must have known that you couldn't put a lid on these kinds of things. If you are worried about your legacy and image, take it from me, this too will pass.
Unlike Macbeth and Clinton, you did not know that one day there would be a major recall and you'd have to step into The Intellectual's shoes. It's so unfair of everyone to expect you to dump your ladies for a six-month presidency. Life goes on long after you leave Mahlambandlopfu.
This is not the biggest crisis this country has ever faced. After all, our next president has a couple of wives with the option to acquire more, so I guess Motlanthe is preparing us for what's to come.
So sir, as you prepare the state of the nation address, please remember to tell us how our country will survive the abyss of crime and lawlessness.
Tell us how we are going to restore the dignity and livelihood of men and women who are gutted and desolate because they cannot find work and thus secure a future for their children.
Tell us, Mr President, how we can affirm our children by giving them the solid and precious gift of education.
Once you have done that, you can go back to your ladies.
But please use a condom.
l Redi Direko is a 702 Talk Radio show host and an e.tv news presenter