Rustenburg – The money to erect a President Jacob Zuma statue in Groot Marico in the North West should be spend on service delivery and job creation, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday.
"The six metre tall bronze statue of Jacob Zuma, which I have called a monument to corruption and unemployment, will be the Nkandla of the North West. The statue will be a multi-million rand splurge of public money, to exult and deify Jacob Zuma, taking money from the public and leaving the people poorer," said provincial leader Joe McGluwa.
"A statue to Jacob Zuma in Gopane is just as useless to the people of Gopane, as Nkandla is to the people of KwaZulu-Natal. A statue of Jacob Zuma will chase tourists away, not attract them."
McGluwa said the statue-millions could alleviate hundreds of bucket toilets in Gopane instead of building a monument to corruption.
"While sanitation and sewage infrastructure lies broken in Gopane, the statue-millions could rather get a whole sanitation plant back up to full steam."
The Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD) said the money for the statue should be used for the procurement of sanitary towels for school girls and shoes for every learner who has none.
"There is a serious need for the eradication of poverty in this province, we cannot just splash money on fruitless actions that will not benefit our people in any way. With the sky rocketing youth joblessness, poor infrastructure etc. the statue come as nothing but just a tender to enrich those that are within good books," said spokesperson Elias Mogoru.
He said the ANC has failed to honour the likes of Credo Mutwa as well as Kgosi Lucas Manyane Mangope, whom even today, the buildings that he built were still being used by the African National Congress government. Mutwa is a traditional healer, while Mangope was the leader of Bophuthatswana homeland.
"Lotlamoreng Dam has been left to rot. All Credo Mutwa’s sculptures are let to waste, and this is the site that was supposed to have been turned to a heritage site."
The North West provincial government said the Democratic Alliance, has made it its task to slam government projects, irrespective of the value they add in advancing social cohesion like the JG (Jacob Gedleyihlekisa) Zuma statue whose tender was recently advertised in the Sunday papers.
"The hatred which the DA harbours against President Zuma is so alarming that any project that seeks to rightfully honour the contribution of President Zuma in the struggle against apartheid is emotionally slammed as a waste of public funds," said spokesperson Brian Setswambung.
"The decision to erect the JG Zuma statue did not start with the fifth administration. As a responsible government, the fifth administration took it upon itself to implement a decision taken prior to 2014," he said.
"The benefits of this statue from a historical perspective are monumental in that our children will through this statue know the selflessness of our struggle icons and the role they played in defeating apartheid and ushering in a democratic order."
The statue would also serve as a great tourist attraction to people visiting land marks which have historical value in the province.
Zuma was arrested by the brutal apartheid security forces at Groot Marico while on his way to Botswana.