Then he met with premiers, ministers and MECs at the President’s Co-ordinating Council in Pretoria and told what he had found when he made an unannounced visit to the Sweetwaters informal settlement in Johannesburg and to the shanty town of Madelakufa in Tembisa.
Well, guess what Dear Mr President: The reason that these people are living in such appalling conditions is that your government has failed them.
So it’s all very well to shed a tear over the young girl who left home to become a prostitute and returned to the shanty when she’d fallen pregnant.
The reality is that if the government services were there to provide proper housing, proper counselling, proper public health and proper hospitals then the millions of people who live in appalling conditions would not have to continue doing so.
You see, Mr President, it’s not just the housing portfolio that needs to be jacked up. It’s pretty much every portfolio in your government.
Just consider this: There are an estimated 30,000 people living in 45 hijacked buildings in the centre of Johannesburg. The international medical and humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders says the buildings it identified were just a fraction of the more than 1,000 buildings that have been hijacked.
People live in overcrowded conditions, have no access to water, no rubbish removal and no electricity either.
Yet the residents are paying rent to those thugs who have stolen the buildings from their rightful owners. Their living conditions are easily as bad, and perhaps even worse, than what you witnessed when you went to Orange Farm.
Yes, Mr President, these people who are living so badly are your brothers and sisters – as they are mine too. They are mostly South Africans (not refugees from Zimbabwe, Somalia or Nigeria). Most of them have come into the cities in search of a job, in search of a future.
So, Mr President, ask yourself whether your government is really delivering for the people of South Africa?
Yes, Mr President, the people of Ramaphosa informal settlement in Ekurhuleni started their protest on Monday morning because the local council and the government is incapable of delivering services.
There have been protests outside just about every council building in the country. The poor South Africans are furious – and the not-so-poor South Africans are just as gatvol as their brethren in the informal settlements.
Yes, Mr President, we all know that there is a shortfall of 2,1 million houses that have been promised to the people of South Africa. We also know that, for millions around the country, all they’ve ever got is promises.
You went to Orange Farm and Tembisa last week, Mr President. Good for you, at least you did see it for yourself. But consider this: There are more than 2,700 of those settlements in the country right now. And unless your government starts to improve its poor track record of delivery then there will probably be more than 3,000 settlements by the end of this year.
The people of South Africa are angry with you and your government, Mr President. That’s why they are burning tyres, blocking roads with rocks and other foreign objects and even stoning cars with bricks, pieces of metal and, anything that they can pick up and throw.
They are frustrated with the promises and angry about the lack of action.
Their behaviour is symptomatic of their underlying fury. And no, Mr President, it’s not “third force agents” that are causing this unrest. It’s your own employees in the government that you run.
We’ve seen service delivery protests for years now and every time we hear the same sort of lip service being paid by premiers, MECs and local counsellors.
They always promise to look into the matter.
They promise that there will be a significant improvement but, in truth, all that you get, week after week, is another load of hot air from an official that is poshly dressed, excessively well-fed and clearly living a life of pleasure and indulgence.
These are actually your people, Mr President: the ones in their fancy cars that spend huge amounts of my money on parties, overseas trips, indabas, think-tanks and conferences.
Yes, Mr President, it was on Monday morning that the people of Ramaphosa were telling the media that since 1994 there have been no developments in their township at all. There are no clinics there and no schools either. In fact, the nearest services are more than five kilometres away in Reiger Park.
Even the sewerage runs down the streets of Ramaphosa because the pipes have burst and no one from your government has bothered to fix them.
I suppose you are trying to do your best given the sub-standard quality of people employed in government positions. In fact, figures compiled by the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) showed that as many as one-in-three councillors cannot read or write and even more lack the most basic competencies to run local government finances.
But, Mr President, setting up a hotline so people can phone you with complaints will not bring about the changes that we so urgently need. Just as signing performance contracts with your cabinet ministers will not necessarily do the trick either.
Instead, Mr President, why don’t you go on a concerted drive to bring skills back into the provinces, the local councils and the national government. The current crop of people who are doing the work right now have proven – beyond all reasonable doubt – that they do not have the ability to perform.
So in the words of some wise man: Fire the lot of them.
So please, Mr President, stop getting tearful about the hardships that families face when you see it for the first time. Realise instead that this is the reality of daily life for millions of people in this country. Unless you do something to change it then that’s what they will face for the rest of their days too.
I’m glad to see that you are human enough to express your emotions. It is pleasing to know that we have a President who cries.
But, while you shed a tear for the family in Sweetwaters, you should cry a river for the way that your government has failed over the past 16 years.
Have a nice day, Mr President – in the warmth of your office, surrounded by the luxury of nice possessions, a warm, fresh breakfast in your tummy, strong-armed bullies to keep away unwanted visitors and many, many wives to keep you amused.
It must be very pleasant living the way you do with not a care in the world really.
*Hartdegen writes a regular column for Property24.com. The content of his columns constitutes his personal opinion and doesn’t pretend to be facts or advice. Contact him at paddy@neomail.co.za.
Readers' Comments Have a comment about this article? Email us now.
Good stuff Paddy and spot on. The only problem is that if this prick of a “president” deigns to read it, you’ll be labelled racist for daring to suggest that his crony appointees be fired and replaced with competent officials. – Mike Turner
Well written article. Facts are facts are facts are............................ It is sad that tax paid by hard working and mostly struggling people in this country - there are more average/below average income earners than there are wealthy - is being so badly abused by corrupt fat cats. I shudder when I think of the salaries of parliamentarians, govt employed top dogs, supporting the many wives and children of the president, a zulu king who is not my monarch and his family, municipal mayors and other municipal top dogs. I shudder at their attitude that they have the right to party, stay in the best hotels and travel with our paid tax whilst infrastructure, safety, health, education, housing, welfare, pension - the list is endless - is falling apart around us and the only ones that seem to notice are the people the goverment and municipalities are supposed to serve. In other words the workers in this country who are having to foot the bill for the luxurious living of government, their cronies and local government fat cats are the ones who see the deterioration and suffer the financial battle as they are the ones having to pay and pay and pay and............... as though there is a bottomless pit of money they can draw from. There are starving homeless people, too many to number, across the racial divide who could be helped if fat cat salaries and perks were reduced to normal amounts, if fraudsters and thieves and corrupt govt workers/officials were held accountable and removed from their jobs and jailed - just as the ordinary people of this land would be - because then there would be less abuse and theft and more money to work with. Stop using tax money for the trials of corrupt government leaders and officials, they should pay their own legal fees like the rest of us. Yes. The government is solely responsible for the poverty and suffering of people in this country, they are solely responsible for the failing service delivery and they are solely responsible for the failing health, education and all other departments as they have employed staff unable to do the job. The government is solely responsible for the lack of experienced doctors, engineers, nurses, teachers, police and other professionals who should have the morals and expertise to do the job honestly and properly. Colour does not make a worker good or bad for the job, education, experience, good honest morals and ability do that. Start appointing people on merit, employ the absolute best and get the job done properly then maybe there is a chance this country can be saved and lives improved. Start with offering realistic salaries, not get rich quick salaries and most of all start using wisdom in the running of this country. There is a difference between intelligence and wisdom. The intelligent man Solomon, a leader and king, prayed for more wisdom, not intelligence which he already had and which is valuable also, but he knew wisdom is what so many lack and wisdom is needed to make correct balanced decisions. This country is being ruled by greed, greed for money and power and people simply do not feature in this situation. The love of money is the root of all evil, it is not the money that is evil but the love of it and more than anything else we see this love of money in our government and their cronies and this country is being bled dry. The money pot is being emptied and there will be a total collapse and we will only have government to blame for that - they are in control and they are irresponsible, lack wisdom, short sighted and greedy. No one can win with qualities like this. - Ethne
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