In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar Marcus Junius Brutus partakes in the 44 BC betrayal and assassination of the Roman dictator. A staunch Caesar supporter, Brutus convinced himself that Caesar had to die for the hegemony of Rome. The standard was set — friends could turn on one another in defence of the public good.
More than 400 years after the Bard’s play was first performed, SA has witnessed its own version of Brutus’s treachery. Little was known about Brutus Malada until the Sunday Times ran a story about how businessman-turned-politician Herman Mashaba and Prince Mashele duped the public over a Mashaba biography penned by Mashele, a celebrated political analyst.
The book, The Outsider — The Unauthorised Biography of Herman Mashaba, was released last month amid much fanfare. The “unauthorised” description led the public to believe Mashaba was just a subject Mashele happened to take an interest in, believing the ActionSA leader’s life and career were worth writing about for the annals of history.
Little did the public know, but Mashaba in fact paid handsomely towards the writing of the “buyography”, which was only revealed when Brutus, a researcher for the book, blew the whistle. The numerous media interviews Brutus and Mashele, his friend of 25 years, have given since then tell quite a tale.
It seems the way events actually unfolded was that the two friends approached Mashaba offering to write a book about him as a commercial venture, polishing the ego of a businessman with dreams of occupying the Union Buildings one day and prepared to pay a tidy sum to build up his image.
Mashele, who had a reputation for his no-nonsense approach in calling out dishonest politicians, says the book was marketed as “unauthorised” at the behest of the publishers. Mashaba handed over an eye-watering R12.5m for their efforts, with Brutus pocketing R3m. Good times for the friends — until a fallout of Shakespearean proportions.
Like his namesake in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, our modern day Brutus went for the jugular, exposing the deceit and revealing that the book was funded and authorised by Mashaba. There is presumably more to the fallout between Mashele and Brutus than meets the eye, but whatever his motives for sullying a friendship of more than 20 years, Brutus has done the SA public a favour by giving us a glimpse of the clandestine relationship between politicians and political analysts in the furtherance of common purpose.
Mashaba was a breath of fresh air when he entered the political scene in 2014, recruited into the DA by Helen Zille. As a successful entrepreneur in his own right he was seen as an outsider to the murky world of politics. Honour, truth and efficiency were his calling card. But nine years is a lifetime in the world of politics, and it seems Mashaba has slotted neatly into the world he claimed to want to change. An environment where self-importance and promotion are king.
Who can forget Pallo Jordan and his multiyear claim that he had acquired a PhD, when it was all a lie? To his credit, Jordan apologised and walked off into the sunset, his reputation in tatters. Mashaba, on the other hand, is digging in his heels, denouncing Brutus for stabbing him and Mashele in the back.
One can safely say Mashaba has now graduated as a politician. Lying and deception are par for the course, and history has shown that voters don’t necessarily punish them for it. Perhaps Mashaba has realised this. Under pressure to utter his first mea culpa since his foray into politics, Mashaba has failed dismally to take accountability of his aggressive deception.
He has fallen way short of living up to the standards he has set for other politicians. He is a man in deep moral and ethical crisis and runs the risk of losing himself in the process. His pretence to piety is astonishing.
The sordid affair also raises questions about the embeddedness of some political analysts, who have an important role to play in society. I call them the fifth estate. They help shape public opinion and influence how voters view parties and politicians. They are ubiquitous on SA television and radio, and in newspapers.
The public and journalists who engage their analysis on a daily basis have a right to know when they are embedded, doing their masters’ work. Mashele has proved a blight on the industry. In his bid to defend the indefensible, he has simply reinforced the greediness of his actions.
He has protested that while he was aware that it was a lie to describe his book on Mashaba as unauthorised, it was actually publisher Jonathan Ball that insisted on the description for “marketing purposes”. This is revealing. What Mashele is telling us is that truth, principle, professional dignity and honour are for sale if the price is right.
Mashele also exposes his depravity when he suggests that because he has allegedly given Brutus several jobs over the years, the latter owed him unflinching loyalty. This is a good example of what is wrong with SA society — in the pursuit of wealth people are prepared to put aside their principles and do and say anything to justify their actions.
Mashele’s fall from grace gives other political analysts who are embedded and secretly promoting particular political parties and their strategies an opportunity to come forward and be truthful with the public. The clock is ticking.
• Khumalo is Business Day companies and markets editor.
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