J P Landman se optimisme is misplaas

The last couple of months I have been impressed with Afrikaans radio station Radio Sonder Grense. This morning they had a very topical discussion about the impact and costs of the FIFA World Cup now after it had finished. I was enjoying the discussion except for one of the panellist’s striking aversion to anything negative being said about the World Cup or indeed South Africa. I decided to take note of this person’s name. It all made complete sense when I found out it was the happy fool J P Landman who was rubbing of up the wrong way.

This fool with his over-used often misdirected quotations would make you believe that there really is nothing wrong with our young democracy. That corruption is under control and all is well. I don’t respect J P Landman. I think he is essentially an academic who doesn’t live in the real world. His utterances are always delivered with spectacular grandeur, but I don’t think he ever really says anything of consequence. What he does say is what in Afrikaans you would refer to as Soetkoek – a light sweet cake that makes you feel good in the short term, but is ultimately not healthy.