Thread. This is revealing. It tells you two things: 1. The much revered minister is perfectly capable of Zuma/Malema-like racial demagoguery when under pressure. And 2. He is under serious pressure. The purpose of the tweet is to detract from that pressure. 1/7 https://twitter.com/tito_mboweni/status/1359487161628839937

What is the pressure? Well, Mboweni’s goals have been decimated. Not by racist while South Africans, but by the alliance. SAA, Eskom unbundling, austerity, the public wage bill - Mboweni’s personal agenda is in tatters. He is a lame duck. So he played the race card. 2/7

That, in turn, tells you two further things: 1. The ANC is the ANC. There are no factions, just diluted and intense versions of the same impulses. 2. The minister’s feigned appreciation for moderation and rationality is a ruse, displayed only for show. 3/7

His response to the outcry is also typical ANC - and Mashaba-like - say something extreme, without evidence, then suggest people don’t want to reasonably engage when decried. The two, of course, are not mutually exclusive. It’s the extremism people responding to. 4/7

The assumption is, unless you accept my opening position as true, you are in denial (and likely racist yourself). Anything that refuses to accept my opening position as true is evidence of its truth. It is a profoundly devious way of arguing. And a sign of pressure too. 5/7

Of course some white South Africans are racist, as are some black, Indian and Coloured South Africans. If you want to honestly deal with that, you have to be honest. Lie and exaggerate and you will achieve nothing. Mboweni didn’t want honest debate, he wanted to scapegoat. 6/7

Mission accomplished. But the tweet is helpful. Because it is revealing. Bookmark Mboweni’s tweets. Remember them. Any politician is at their most authentic when under pressure. Here, then, is a real insight into Mboweni’s bottom line. And it is absolutely destructive. 7/7