Speaking at an ANC manifesto forum at Wits University this week Prez Zuma was quoted as saying: “We can’t think like Africans, in Africa, generally. We are in Johannesburg, this is Johannesburg. It’s not some national road in Malawi”. He was, of course, referring to the controversy that is e-Tolls in Gauteng.
The remark is not really what you would expect from somebody who took over from Thabo Mbeki, an “African Renaissance” thinker who believed Africa should find solutions for African problems.
Many Saffas are rather pissed off with the president’s comments, and rightly so. Some are accusing him of being an Afro-sceptic or Afro-cynic.
Poor old presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj who again had a rather tough week trying to clarify what his big induna said, even blaming the media (like always) of “distorting” Zuma’s comments for “mischievous” reasons. An apt comment from old Mac would have been: “My boss only opens his mouth to change his feet”, but alas, what he came up with was: “Zuma had commented off the cuff that, for example, it was not fair to expect Gauteng roads to be compared to roads in other towns such as ‘Pietermaritzburg, Rustenburg, Polokwane or any other town or national road in Malawi, as this was Gauteng, the heartbeat of South Africa’s economy’.” Where do we find the unlike button on Facebook for this drivel?
The DA (as always) had something to squirt into the pot. DA spokesman Mmusi Maimane said “the president was saying we must welcome e-tolls and pay up because new freeways have been built in Johannesburg. What the president doesn’t realise is Africa is actually developing at a faster pace than he suggests. Many governments in African countries have adopted investor friendly policies that create jobs. They are not burdening citizens with double-taxation though an expensive e-tolling system.”
What he should have said is that the president simply does not make any sense, not on e-Tolls of any other topic.
We would like to know what Malawi has to say about this. Thank goodness they don’t have war planes, because we have, but don’t have pilots to fly them and we really don’t need to piss off our neighbours in this way.
