Western Cape politics will never be the same again.
That’s because Tony Ehrenreich is hanging up his red T-shirt.
Love him or hate him - and wow, does Tony have his haters - the Cosatu provincial secretary has been a major player on the political stage for the past two decades.
With a groot bek that skriks vir niks, Tony would take on anyone and any issue.
And that’s why journalists love him - he never shies away from making headlines.
A passionate champion of workers’ rights, he’s always been voor innie koor when it comes to strikes and protests.
Tony styled himself as the voice of the poor, working-class families and the oppressed.
As such, he has constantly been a thorn in the flesh of the “larneys”, and the Democratic Alliance, who he maintains are only there to serve the interests of privileged whites in their “leafy suburbs”.
When it comes to wage protests, Tony is oppit.
When it comes to racism, he’s oppit.
Land and housing, oppit.
Drought crisis, oppit.
MyCiTi bus routes, oppit.
Transformation in rugby, oppit.
Anti-Israel demonstrations, oppit.
And he’s made plenty of enemies along the way - most notably “Madam” Premier Helen Zille and the DA.
There’s also been bad blood with Mayor Patricia de Lille, who he lost out to in the 2011 mayoral elections, where he was the ANC candidate.
STRATEGY: Tony styled himself as a champion of the poor
Tony has tackled SA Rugby, for not selecting enough players of colour.
He’s picked fights with DStv and their monopoly over the broadcast of Springbok games.
Remember when he threatened to disrupt an All Blacks Test match at Newlands?
All of this to strike a blow to the “Stellenbosch Boere Mafia”, he said.
Tony’s always up for fighting the good fight. He’s played his part - and that is to keep the wealthy and elite on their toes.
He genuinely means well, but two critical things have been his undoing:
- As an ANC leader, he did not speak out against corruption during the Jacob Zuma administration. He was also silent on the Nkandla saga, and one wonders if he felt conflicted about this at all, being a man who has devoted his career to being the voice of the poor. It was a fatal mistake, ultimately earning him the label of “ANC holborsel”.
- Tony played the race card too often. He would take up a good cause, only to weaken his argument by reducing it to a black and white issue. And the standard response would invariably be: “Ai Tony, here go again...”
One thing Munier can say about Comrade Tony, though, is that he walks the talk.
Munier once interviewed him for over two hours - and sjoe, the guy can talk the legs off a donkey.
But he does put his money where his mouth his.
Talking about helping the poor is one thing, but actually giving your whole ANC councillor salary to arme mense is another. That’s not a gimmick.
Tony apparently put up a homeless family at his house in Uitsig too, and they ended up staying for three years.
Which other politician can claim to have done that?
Tony, now 56, winds down his Cosatu career in June, after 29 years.
Munier wishes wish him well in his future endeavours.