At least we can dance
(whilst squeezed by our budget)
quips an evening e.tv newsreader

this in response to the scheme
thrust upon the voting cattle
by the besuited folks up yonder

out in the new South Africa
its inhabitants are assailed
by various plots and plans
(and changing of the guard)

(recently a CapeTalk veteran
was a tad apoplectic
at our constant planning
and consulting and the like)

At least we can dance
though to whose tune
who is the organ grinder
who is the monkey

the news ends with news
of a hip-hop group off
overseas for the first time
in the midst of all of this

(to her credit the newsreader
makes no ethnic or tribal
inferences or references
group-think and own-affairs
and us and them still here)

At least we can dance
whilst squeezed by our budget
women and children still at risk
the aged and the infirm too

no bail-out or re-configuration
for them and their sort
(they are not state-owned entities)

(did one’s parents not advise
never a borrower or a lender be)

At least we can dance

Midst the bail-out budget, a Cape Flats hip-hop group of youngsters go over.