• I may be jaded and cynical but still marvel at the deeds of power-hungry politicians
After 35 years reporting on politicians in Kenya, and more recently South Africa, you will forgive me if I sometimes appear to be somewhat jaded and cynical when it comes to their shenanigans.
That said, even benumbed old sceptics like myself are occasionally taken by surprise by political antics.
This was the case when on early on August 15, rumours began circulating among journalists in South Africa that Floyd Shivambu, the deputy president of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), was deserting the party he co-founded in 2013 with Julius Malema.
Shivambu was leaving to join another opposition party, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, better known as the MK Party.
This party is led by Jacob Zuma, the man whom Shivambu and Malema were fighting when they were expelled from their leadership roles in the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League.
There was nothing particularly unusual about a politician changing parties. However, the manner in which Shivambu changed parties with an announcement at a press conference attended and addressed by himself and Malema was a political first, at least in my experience.
Normally, when senior political leaders of a political party switch allegiance, there is a lot of acrimony from their colleagues in the rejected party, but this was as amicable a divorce as I have ever seen.
Contrast the transparency of this event with the confused, incoherent muddle that happened when Kenya’s governing Kenya Kwanza (KK) coalition took four leading figures from the opposition ODM party and nominated them to the KK Cabinet.
First, ODM denied any such move was in the offing, then the party secretary general made statements in which he seemed to denigrate and disown those leaving for the KK Cabinet. But shortly afterwards, there was an about-turn and they were being wished well as ODM deployees to the KK Cabinet.
The last I heard was ODM chief and former PM Raila Odinga saying that in fact, he only acceded to the deal after President Ruto begged him for help. And that he had only agreed to help after his political buddy and Ruto’s supposed nemesis former President Uhuru Kenyatta told him to help shore-up Ruto’s government.
The South Africans seemed to be open and transparent, while in Kenya, we were bungling an attempt at cloak-and-dagger politics.
A few weeks earlier, two other smaller South African political parties had surprised keen observers of the political scene when they entered into what has been called an “unconventional collaboration”.
The two parties have come up with a strategic partnership in which the Good Party appointed Axolile Notywala, a leading member of another party, Rise Mzansi, to fill a vacancy on the City of Cape Town council.
The Good Party secretary general said that Notywala would take up dual membership, allowing him to remain a Rise Mzansi member who is active in its structures, while representing Good as part of the caucus in the council.
I’ll be watching to see how this arrangement works and whether other parties adopt it for their own ends.
This ever-changing political landscape is one of the things that tempers my jaded view of political shenanigans.
Once upon a time, when it suited the ANC, the party changed the constitution to allow MPs, members of provincial legislatures and local government councillors to change political parties or form new parties while keeping their seats.
This meant that between 2002 and 2009, even though they may have been elected on the platform of one party, elected leaders could change allegiances as they wished twice during a term.
Opponents of floor-crossing ridiculed those who did so by referring to them as “crosstitutes”.
One party, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), said "Floor-crossing is an absolute mockery of parliamentary democracy and results in deception, suspicion, accusation and cheque-book politics."
In the end, an opposition party successfully challenged the system in the courts, causing a bill to be taken to Parliament and eventually abolishing the practice in January 2009.
Nevertheless, as we have seen with Shivambu, politicians still get the urge to change parties whenever it suits them.