LETTER: Development state my foot!

Perhaps the most absurd claim of President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC is their pursuit of the “developmental state”. Whatever the ANC has accomplished in the past quarter-century, it is not physical development.

SA’s power generation is on life support, kept going only by burning diesel and private renewable energy initiatives. The state of Eskom has placed a lid of 1%-2% on economic growth. Even if the ANC were to suddenly govern well, power constraints would hobble investment.

Our railways are carrying ever less cargo. Trucks are trying to fill the breach, at enormous cost to the road infrastructure. The performance of our ports is in the bottom 10 in the world.

We must be the only country whose parliament could be burnt down because the patrolling security staff had the New Year’s weekend off and the police watching the security cameras (the few that worked) were fast asleep.

If this is a developmental state, what would the ANC regard as a deteriorating state?

Our only hope is to rid ourselves of “our turn to eat” entitlement and embrace ethics and competence.

Colour obsessions and race quotas must go. As former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping said, “It matters not whether the cats are black or white, as long as they catch mice.”

Willem Cronje
Cape Town

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