What a show of wealth and ego?
By Subry Govender
Editor and Journalist
They came from all over the country to Cape Town. They were MPs, Premiers, Speakers of provincial parliaments, traditional leaders and other invited elite. They flew down first or business class. They were fetched in special shining Mercedes Benzs' or hired their own top of the range cars.
They wore the best of designer-made clothes - dresses, suits and hats. Of course a number also dressed in the most expensive traditional wear. They did not spare the rand.
Even the leader of the DA opposition, Helen Zille, who goes about talking about working in the interests of the poor, outdid her ANC pokers.
She appeared in sequins, chiffon and beading in the bold blue colours of her party.
She told the media: "It is an election year and I asked the DESIGNER, De Villiers Beukes, to make me something in blue. Look, I even painted my nails in blue."
While some paid their own way to Cape Town, most enjoyed the privilege of being at the opening of parliament and President Jacob Zuma's station of the nation address at tax payers' money.
In addition, they flaunted their wealth and egos during the pomp and ceremoney - all the military displays and the fly past by the air force added to the jamboree.
When they sat down in parliament to listen to President Zuma's speech, you could notice that they all appeared to be well-fed and well-nourished. There was no poor among them.
And after the speech, they got down to sipping the most expensive, wines, whisky and other liquor, and gulping delicious dishes of meat, crayfish and other fineries.
All these flamboyance, show and wasteage, at a time when President Zuma talked of getting South Africans down to work and the Government providing nearly R40-billion for the creation of jobs.
He said: "Our goal is clear. We want to have a country where millions more (people) have decent employment opportunities, which has a modern infrastructure and a vibrant economy and where the quality of life is high."
When the ruling ANC was leading the struggle for liberation and a non-racial democracy, it always maintained a code of high values, morals and principles. Now that it is in power, it seems the once principled ANC has lost its moral fibre?
There seems to be no limit to the millions it is prepared to spend on lavish parties and ceremonies, while at the same talking of uplifting the poor, improving service delivery, cracking down on fraud and corruption, eradicating crime and generally promising to create a better life for all people - for those in informal settlements, those in the rural areas, and those who have been left behind - not just for the black and white elite.
The question that one has to ask: Is the flaunting of all the top of the range cars, clothes and hats and the consumption of the finest wines and delicious food really necessary? Shouldn't the MPs, other politicians and their invited elite show some humility in the manner in which they travel, dress and eat, especially at a time when millions more are without jobs and in dire straits?
I was always under the impression that my former comrades would be an example to those who have lost the way in this made rush to accumulate and splash wealth?
I am certain that former President, Nelson Mandela; and others like him would not be comfortable with the wasteage of our taxpayers' money? The leaders of the calibre of the late Professor Fatima Meer, Billy Nair, Oliver Tambo, and Walter Sisulu - wherever they are now - would be embarassed at the glitter, glamour and the show of ego as seen in Cape Town on Thursday evening last week.
- Subry Govender, Senior Editor and Journalist.
By Subry Govender
Editor and Journalist
They came from all over the country to Cape Town. They were MPs, Premiers, Speakers of provincial parliaments, traditional leaders and other invited elite. They flew down first or business class. They were fetched in special shining Mercedes Benzs' or hired their own top of the range cars.
They wore the best of designer-made clothes - dresses, suits and hats. Of course a number also dressed in the most expensive traditional wear. They did not spare the rand.
Even the leader of the DA opposition, Helen Zille, who goes about talking about working in the interests of the poor, outdid her ANC pokers.
She appeared in sequins, chiffon and beading in the bold blue colours of her party.
She told the media: "It is an election year and I asked the DESIGNER, De Villiers Beukes, to make me something in blue. Look, I even painted my nails in blue."
While some paid their own way to Cape Town, most enjoyed the privilege of being at the opening of parliament and President Jacob Zuma's station of the nation address at tax payers' money.
In addition, they flaunted their wealth and egos during the pomp and ceremoney - all the military displays and the fly past by the air force added to the jamboree.
When they sat down in parliament to listen to President Zuma's speech, you could notice that they all appeared to be well-fed and well-nourished. There was no poor among them.
And after the speech, they got down to sipping the most expensive, wines, whisky and other liquor, and gulping delicious dishes of meat, crayfish and other fineries.
All these flamboyance, show and wasteage, at a time when President Zuma talked of getting South Africans down to work and the Government providing nearly R40-billion for the creation of jobs.
He said: "Our goal is clear. We want to have a country where millions more (people) have decent employment opportunities, which has a modern infrastructure and a vibrant economy and where the quality of life is high."
When the ruling ANC was leading the struggle for liberation and a non-racial democracy, it always maintained a code of high values, morals and principles. Now that it is in power, it seems the once principled ANC has lost its moral fibre?
There seems to be no limit to the millions it is prepared to spend on lavish parties and ceremonies, while at the same talking of uplifting the poor, improving service delivery, cracking down on fraud and corruption, eradicating crime and generally promising to create a better life for all people - for those in informal settlements, those in the rural areas, and those who have been left behind - not just for the black and white elite.
The question that one has to ask: Is the flaunting of all the top of the range cars, clothes and hats and the consumption of the finest wines and delicious food really necessary? Shouldn't the MPs, other politicians and their invited elite show some humility in the manner in which they travel, dress and eat, especially at a time when millions more are without jobs and in dire straits?
I was always under the impression that my former comrades would be an example to those who have lost the way in this made rush to accumulate and splash wealth?
I am certain that former President, Nelson Mandela; and others like him would not be comfortable with the wasteage of our taxpayers' money? The leaders of the calibre of the late Professor Fatima Meer, Billy Nair, Oliver Tambo, and Walter Sisulu - wherever they are now - would be embarassed at the glitter, glamour and the show of ego as seen in Cape Town on Thursday evening last week.
- Subry Govender, Senior Editor and Journalist.
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