South Africans have learnt with amazement about plans by the North West government to build a statue in honour of the country’s blundering president. The plans became knows when it was revealed that North West government’s tender numbered CATA116/2016 was indeed earmarked for the building of this “sculpture”.
According to the DA’s North West leader Joe McGluwa, MPL, it is a disgraceful waste of public money to build a stature of the Zumster. “…that will leave us with nothing more than a monument to corruption and unemployment… There is nothing to celebrate about Jacob Zuma’s presidency, a regime that has left 9 million people unemployed, has let corruption flourish, has allowed the state to be captured by cronies and pals, and has broken parliament while violating the constitution,” says McGluwa.
The Democratic Alliance said in a statement released on Monday it is truly shocked that the ANC in the North West wants to spend R6 million of public money to erect a statue “of a man who has so brazenly broken the laws of our land, and who seeks to divide the people of this country rather than unite us”.
The planned statue project is proof that the North West premier, Supra Mahumapelo, and his government put Jacob Zuma and the ANC ahead of the people of the North West. This is highly ironic in a province with the highest unemployment rate in South Africa (it currently stands at 44,6%). Any money spent should be to create jobs, not build statures.
The DA says: “To the people of Gopane, Zeerust, a statue of Jacob Zuma will go nowhere to solve their critical need for services, as water supply fails daily, waste water treatment plants lie unusable and broken, and the inhumane bucket system still plagues our people. Supra Mahumapelo’s priorities are clearly disturbingly skewed to praise Jacob Zuma, rather than to deliver to the people.
“Supra must immediately halt the building of what will be a monument to corruption and unemployment, and he must redirect the million this will cost to service delivery and job creation.”