LETTER: Clover's departure from Lichtenburg is an embarrassment to Ramaphosa

Imagine President Cyril Ramaphosa was to wake up one morning and have an attack of conscience, realising that Clover's departure from Lichtenburg is actually an embarrassment to him. In quick succession he phones co-operative governance minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, North West premier Job Mokgoro and Lichtenburg mayor Lesego Holele and tells them to be in his office at 8am sharp on Monday.

Monday comes around and the three have arrived at the president's office in their SUV convoys. The president thumps the boardroom table and says service delivery in Lichtenburg is shocking and it must start to improve right now. He adds that what is adding to his embarrassment is that an Israeli company has acquired Clover and it is unacceptable that a recent foreign investor is moving a whole factory when what the country actually needs is for it to expand the existing factory in Lichtenburg.

He says to the three of them that they have an hour to come up with a one-pager of action plans that they will start implementing immediately to remedy the situation.  Furthermore, he will be sending a monitoring team (he has managed to coax a few old guys out of retirement) to oversee this action plan and they will report back to him. He then says that in the monitoring process if he sees no progress being made, he will dismiss them all within 30 minutes of being informed.

Ramaphosa would only have to do this 230 times (for all the delinquent municipalities). I think even the stock market would move on this info.

Wayne Roberts

Via e-mail

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