The usual circle of concerned conversationalists congregating at the local Pub & Grill was talking politics despite The Governor’s ban. 29 May is election day, after all. The issue was coalition governments and The Prof had the floor:
“My colleague Prof Anthony Turton, the water crisis guru we have met from time to time on this page, has well-considered views on President Cyril Ramaphosa taking the ANC into a governing coalition with two of its offshoots – Julius Malema’s EFF and Jacob Zuma’s MK Party: It won’t work; it has a design fault.
“I agree. Dr Turton uses the metaphor of lions hunting their prey. When they’ve got it down, the alpha lion takes his cut and the others grab as much as they can (provided by us, fellow taxpayers).
“Soon the hyenas will join in for ‘their share’, followed by the vultures and jackals claiming their turn to eat.
“Let’s replace the lions with our coalition parties and the prey with that pie economists always want people to share. The solution, of course, is to bake a bigger pie with more to go around. How, Miss Lily? By establishing an enabling environment for the private sector to start and build businesses. And why? To create the jobs and profits that will grow our economy. And voila: a bigger pie.
“The sad part is that our coalition won’t spend any time in the kitchen. We see it for ourselves and we read the gruesome details from Judge Zondo’s probe into state capture. And we know what was done about that.”
“Indeed,” conceded Bill the Beard, “with the fortunate exception of the Western Cape and we all know why. The people moving here from all over tell us why. And when even a jewel of the Garden Route like Knysna is turned into a rubbish dump, we don’t have to ask what happened.”
“Whoa!” interrupted Luke the Dude, are we all struck by political correctness here? Careful not to hurt Big Ben’s ANC feelings? Sorry Ben, but I’ll change that by summarising John Steenhuisen, the leader of the DA. Speaking in the Free State recently, he was frank about our reality. In his words:
‘Harrismith was once the jewel of the Free State. But the ANC has collapsed everything from refuse removal to the most basic infrastructure there.
‘According to the ANC’s own national department of water and sanitation, the Free State has the highest rate of water losses in the entire country. A staggering 61% of water is lost between the time it moves from a bulk reservoir to the time it is supposed to arrive in your taps. The water is there. It is just lost and wasted because … the money meant for maintaining the pipes and pumps that should get the water into your home, was stolen.
‘The Free State does not have a water crisis. It has an ANC governance and corruption crisis.’ “His words,” concluded Luke the Dude.
Looking on the bright side, Miss Lily had the last word though: “Election day is a public holiday, so I have volunteered to work at our voting station. Hope to see you all there!”
Email: noag@maxitec.co.za
