While the middle class masses of Cape Town gasped in horror and protested wildly, on facebook, about the passing of the secrecy bill the news that will have the most impact on their lives passed them by; there is talk of moving parliament out of Cape Town and into Pretoria. The real beauty about the statement and reasoning for moving parliament to Pretoria is that having it split over more than one city is that it is costing government money and affecting the efficient running of parliamentary duties. It is heartening to finally hear government admitting that things are not been run as efficiently as possible and that they are trying to find ways in which to save money. To be fair one cannot criticise the current government for the ludicrous system put in place by the previous equally inefficient apartheid government. However it is slightly amusing that within days of passing the most controversial bill in decades they finally start talking about something sensible. Could merely be to satisfy the angry middle classes?
If one looks back on the last twenty odd years of democracy the privileged few, and I mean those that were born into not those that fought for it, have been very vocal about every mistake, misdemeanour and corruption accusation that the media has printed, vocal however is the keyword. Very little else was done aside from complaints over cappuccinos, between the first and last election very little voting was done by the middle classes. Then the secrecy bill was passed and everyone became an activist, it was as if we were defending our right to complain. Cape Town, outside parliament, was a buzz of activity, well more of a low hum on “Black Tuesday” as a few creative minds came to the fore with some interesting protest ideas. However it was largely on social media platforms that the most noise was made, which is unsurprising considering the people that were making the noise.
However while everyone had their fingers in their ears and were singing loudly the residents of our fair Mother City missed the big news. The powers that BEE are planning on moving parliament out of it's Cape Town accommodation, this my fellow Capetonians is fantastic news. Just think from now on we can complain about the tourists from up north and government at the same time. While the rest of the country mourns the loss of their favourite pastime, complaining about the government us Mother City residents are being handed an opt-out on a platter.
If parliament is moved the parliamentarians become tourists and we all know how much Capetonians love to complain about tourists.
