GARETH VAN ONSELEN: What Hlaudi says about SA’s psyche
What does it say about our society that people who seem to display certain antisocial behaviour are often rewarded with high office?
In a hurricane of egomaniacal incoherence, former SABC chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng addressed the nation on the state of the public broadcaster at a press conference last week. It defied description; equal parts tin pot tyranny and unregulated absurdity. To the extent that one is forced to question, in all seriousness, whether the man is mentally stable. Something is just not right. It is easy to be flippant about such things. But that would be a mistake. It might be difficult to distinguish fact from fiction these days but in Motsoeneng it is clear the usual criteria — arrogance and incompetence for example — do not properly explain his behaviour. He appears unhinged — and he seems to be symptomatic of a broader problem. In response to Motsoeneng’s bizarre press conference, former Business Day editor Songezo Zibi said: "Political decay causes psychosocial deformities, such as a nation spellbound by the public ramblings of a deluded megalomaniac."Perhaps we could exten...
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