Derek

A father, a brother, a South African.

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

The Arsenal. Your Premier League champions.

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@qrimeCapital @openclaw Oh all the things that “didn’t happen”, I’ll take this for $100 please

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@TheKiffness I much prefer your army one 🥴

[Gareth Cliff @GarethCliff]

Good people use words to convey meaning, to explain in clear terms what they see or think. Bad people use words to deceive, obfuscate and manipulate. This is all we need to know about those who get upset by a word when it is used correctly. They’re upset because their deceit has failed.

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@TheKiffness Damn this is amazing

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@AFRICANDEMOC Haha this is pretty funny

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@Eskom_SA Don’t stress, we will just pay you an extra 35%. Shem, you seem to be struggling.

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@PresidencyZA The ANC is starting to realise, that saying one thing, but doing the opposite, actually has consequences

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@AntonFoooker50 Social media is not a true reflection of society. The keyboard warriors we see here are in the absolute minority. Not to take away from the abhorrent decisions made by the ANC, but the response on social media to them, is not the true voice of the average South African

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@Jonathan_Witt @realDonaldTrump They say that you get the leaders you deserve. We don’t deserve this.

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@GvanOnselen Embarrassing take.

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

Thanks @CheckersSA @Sixty60_Tweets you’re the best.

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@SquidgeRugby Don’t leave Squidge. The world loves what you do. Ignore/block the fringe keyboard warriors. You only get hate because you’re relevant.

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@fcfortune This Jozi accent is too funny.

[Ian Miles Cheong @ianmiles]

This is too good.

[M-Jay @M_Jay94]

I usually agree with you but your assessment is amiss and I’ll explain why. South Africa runs a parliamentary system, like most European countries. You don’t need to have over 50% to form government, just the largest share of seats is all you need. So technically, the ANC could still form a minority government. They however need to have over 50% of the seats for common sense reasons; passing a budget, legislation and also blocking any opportunity for a no confidence motion passed against your executive.

It may be that your preferred parties did not make the coalition, it’s okay. It’s part of democracy. If South Africans are not happy with this decision, they have an opportunity to punish the ANC in 2026 LG elections and most importantly in 2029.

It’s not only democracy when we get our way, and when our preferred parties get elected. Sometimes, it is what it is. Voters voted.

I’d like to highlight that your characterisation of the DA as a white supremacist party is unfortunate. Peddling the same propaganda used against the party by its detractors, but factually, they enjoy huge support amongst all demographics in South Africa, as it should be, for a diverse rainbow nation. Black people represent a third of their support base, white people the other third, then coloureds and Indians the remaining third. These groups are a very important constituency in SA. They vote for this party because they identify with it and it’s okay. Classical Liberal policies, might not be for you but in most countries classical liberalism is a significant block in electoral politics.

And then in terms of the markets, I don’t think they have all of the sway in a highly contested electoral environment like RSA, but they have a significant sway nonetheless. At the end of the day, you still need investment to create jobs. Governments don’t create jobs, private capital does. You need to factor the economy always, when formulating government and formulating government policy. With South Africa’s economy being stagnant for the past decade, it needs more investor confidence to deal with the high unemployment and social issues the country has. So partnering with a Pro Free Markets party like the DA shouldn’t be controversial at all.

Lastly, I want to highlight something for you around SA’s political landscape and the important position the DA occupies, it’s very significant. It’s my view that SA, with its diversity, several tribes, races, languages, social class and religions, its very unlike that in future you could have a party that wins over 50% of the vote. Which means all future governments of SA will be made out of coalitions. It’s difficult to have a party that represents the diversity of all of South Africa since identity plays a role in voting patterns, even religion too. You have religious parties represented in parliament, your ACDP, Al Jamaah etc. So even outside of race and tribe, many factors will determine. Then there’s also policy. The DA’s classical liberal ideology is nonracialist, nonsexist and even non religious politics. It’s an important voting constituency and so long as they represent this, they’ll naturally have around 20-30% potential votes. Which is significant in coalition electoral politics. Study European countries like Germany that have been governed by coalitions for decades.

Coalitions, if done properly will deliver better outcomes for SA than if say one party gets to have their way in shaping policy alone. With other parties involved in government, government policy is a result of consensus by all parties and is actually debated before adoption.

If South Africans aren’t happy, they will have an opportunity to disapprove, trust me. Forget about the social media outrage, EFF declined and of course MK was a factor in ANC decline. You can not measure approval or disapproval based on social media trends and hashtags. Only elections will pass a referendum on this coalition in 2026 and 2029. I rest my case. Enkosi 😉

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@EFFSouthAfrica “War council”. Please guys, grow up

[Leanne Manas @LeanneManas]

UPDATE NATIONAL ELECTIONS:
16.07% total votes counted
ANC 682,342
DA 411,388
EFF 136,256
MKP 129,565
PA 71,648

#elections #southafricavotes
#SAvotes

[Derek @DerekSmithDurbs]

@AFTVMedia Capitalism 101

[Mia Hughes @_CryMiaRiver]

🧵Apotemnophilia

In the 90s, Dr. Robert Smith, a surgeon at Falkirk Royal Infirmary, performed leg amputations on two men. Both men were perfectly healthy but suffering from apotemnophilia, a psychiatric condition involving the desire to have healthy limbs amputated./1