SIKONATHI MANTSHANTSHA: Lessons for SA’s voters from Venezuela
In SA and Venezuela greedy, corrupt and economically illiterate politicians promised lazy, stupid voters that they would rob the rich to give to the poor. Then their thieving ways brought vibrant economies to their knees
On Sunday, while I sat without electricity at my home in Joburg for 10 hours, I got to read a New York Times story about electricity blackouts that had plunged Venezuela into darkness for four days. Here, supply was restored in our sleep. On Friday, about 85 Joburg suburbs had blackouts lasting about seven hours. City Power (fed-up consumers call it Shitty Power) blamed "a trip on an Eskom line". In SA and Venezuela greedy, corrupt and economically illiterate politicians promised lazy, stupid voters that they would rob the rich to give to the poor. Then their thieving ways brought vibrant economies to their knees. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves. SA has more than 150 years’ worth of coal in the ground. Neither can make the abundance of fuel work for their people. For the failure of the San Geronimo B substation at the Guri hydropower plant, the socialist South American country blamed sabotage and cyberattacks by the US. Not that attributing blame solves the problem. S...
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