Buthelezi: ANC and people divided
2013-02-19 21:00
Cape Town - There is a growing divide between the ANC and
the people of South Africa, IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Tuesday.
Speaking in the National Assembly during debate on
President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address, he said social media
comments by the public reflected an overwhelming public opinion that Zuma's
address did not describe the state of the nation.
The real state of the nation was expressed in the cry of
more than a million young people who sat without work, while the president
asked the private sector to "absorb" 11 000 further education and
training college graduates.
It was expressed in the children who sat without textbooks
for more than half a year, while the president asked the private sector to fund
maths and science academies and Saturday schools.
The real state of the nation was very different to what
the president described, Buthelezi said.
"Mr President, you seem to speak from both sides of
your mouth. What daring to speak about the Bill of Rights when you, yourself
are compromised on this issue.
"You sing Umshini Wam. You allow the slogan 'Kill
the Boer, Kill the Farmer'. You have stood in this House and declared, quite
without qualms, that the minority has fewer rights than the majority. Where is
your Constitution, Mr President? Please show me where that hallowed document
grants some citizens more rights than others?"
The time had come to close the first republic under the
ANC, which was characterised by corruption, lack of vision, and lack of
leadership.
The time had come to usher in a second, and better
republic, dedicated to the people and the values of liberation, he said.
It was well known that the resources at the government's
disposal were enormous and that the budget allocations were generous to address
key issues like education, poverty, and healthcare.
"It is not for lack of throwing money at our
problems that we flounder."
One could not escape the truth that the government had
wasted money. It had wasted the resources available to it.
What had been promised had not been delivered, and
corruption had "darkened the soul of government".
Resources had been frittered away at every level of
government. In national government, provincial administrations, and
municipalities, performance was so poor and delivery so slow that "I have
lost hope of us ever coming close to addressing South Africa's problems
successfully".
South Africans wanted to hear on Thursday what the
government was going to do to turn things around.
"Instead, we heard nothing new. The State of the Nation
address was deeply disappointing.
"It has caused me, at last, to lose hope. Not in my
beloved country, but in my president.
"Let us open now, with the rising voice of a nation
at odds with its government, the better, second republic our people deserve.
"Let us set this country on the right course, by
doing what is needed - by unseating a leadership not fit to rule,"
Buthelezi said.
- SAPA
