TFSA newsmaker of the year 2008

[Dave A]

I thought it might be an idea to introduce an end-of-year tradition for The Forum SA - our Newsmaker of the Year.

Any member can make a nomination or more, and nominations need to be seconded. Some time this coming weekend I'll put up the poll of the leading nominees and voting will be open for the balance of the month.

I'll kick off nominations with some obvious candidates, but feel free to add some less obvious ones - just to record for posterity people who made the headlines in a notable way during the year.

Julius Malema. Most memorable moment - "Kill for Zuma."

Jacob Zuma. Most memorable moment - "I want my day in court to clear my name."

Jonathan Shapiro aka Zapiro. Most memorable moment - "Raping justice."

[Morticia]

Aaawww, you took all the nice ones.........

[Dave A]

They still need seconds - and there are quite a few more, particularly if you think earlier in the year. That's why I think we should include the most memorable moment, just to remind ourselves.

Think of some of the big news items during the year - load-shedding, Zimbabwe crisis, financial meltdown, maybe sport related...

[Vincent]

Robert Mugabe - “Only God who appointed me will remove me, not the MDC, not the British.�

[Vincent]

Robert Mugabe - “Only God who appointed me will remove me, not the MDC, not the British.�

Or maybe arsehole of the year, nah make that the decade

[Morticia]

My vote (do we get more than one?) is the young, the mixed-race, the inexperienced Barack Obama. Boldly going where no one has gone before....

[IanF]

My vote is for Terror Lekota. He has shown us that even in the ANC they can shake up things including the whole political scene. Would I vote for COPE never, I see as a different flavour ANC.

[Dave A]

Nice list so far - looking forward to getting that poll up.

How about Alec Erwin - "The power crisis is not affecting foreign investment"

On the load shedding crisis, I'm trying to remember who released the "wet coal" excuse. Duh! It's rock, silly - that's why it won't burn!

And then there's Trevor Manuel - "My resignation was just following procedure." Remember how the stock markets crashed? I'm tempted to rub in his growth basis for the budget this year, but that would be cruel.

Finally from my side, Thabo Mbeki - "We made a mistake" (in shelving development of more electricity generation capacity). Such admissions of fault have been rare indeed.

I debated nominating someone from The Sharks for winning the Currie Cup this year, but that would just be stirring

[Dave A]

Poll posted. Get your vote in.

I ended up not including Thabo, Trevor or Alec in the poll - which felt a little wierd after I'd done it. Just goes to show the old guard is definitely out.

[Marq]

I'm confused - arsehole of the year vs newsmaker of the year. Cause the list has both and somehow my mind keeps going to newsmaker = good guy. Now thats biased towards the good guys and arseholes dont get a vote. Oh Ok - got it now.....

Can we have another poll - biggest arsehole of the year and then a separate one of best in the west. Ok so the first list is going to be endless but the second should be quick.

[Dave A]

Can we have another poll - biggest arsehole of the year and then a separate one of best in the west. Ok so the first list is going to be endless but the second should be quick.

What should make this interesting is that we haven't set criteria/judging rules.

Is it the person who was the cause of the most copy overall, or the person who caused the biggest story.

So it's up to you. All you've got is "newsmaker." To some extent this is a reflection of ourselves as much as the candidates, which probably explains the current frontrunner in the poll so far

[Marq]

Is it the person who was the cause of the most copy overall, or the person who caused the biggest story.

I added the person who's story will still be alive next year as well. Its easy to get into the news but the reason is the main point for me and if its the right reason (for me) the story will follow and have a long standing interest relationship with the readers/viewers. Fly by night Aholes who 'make news' through sensationalism or by playing the continual victim, do not get a rating in my points system.

I think so far the result here shows the same thoughts.

[Marq]

I see the DA are also voting for the arsehole of the year award......You must get Zille to vote for your newsmaker of the year award, Dave. It seems they have a fancy system that gives .67 scores - But then it is obviously flawed to have found even a score of 1 for the individuals listed below and an overall score of 4.67, shows the DA must have been having a tik party when they did this. I prefer our voting system with an either you're in or your are out vote. Much easier, especially when you have so many potential customers.

On a scale from one to 10, government ministers scored an "unsatisfactory" 4.67 this year, according to the Democratic Alliance's annual Cabinet Report Card.

"The DA believes the Cabinet failed to pass muster in 2008 but performed, on balance, marginally better than in 2007," DA leader Helen Zille told a media briefing at Parliament on Wednesday.

Last year, the Cabinet scored 4.33 on the same scale.

The three worst performers listed in the document are Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour and Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who all scored one.