LETTER:
In my opinion the shape South Africa is in is like a priceless vintage car.
When the apartheid government handed over this car to Nelson Mandela (God rest his soul) it was well serviced, with a current logbook and had all six gears functioning.
When Mandela passed the car over to Mbeki, Mbeki had a driver’s licence and took over the servicing, but refused to use all the car’s gears, so he drove until the 5th gear.
His comrade Jacob Zuma loved the car very much and Mbeki promised he would hand it over when he was done, but Zuma was a very impatient man.
He knew he had no driver’s licence and wasn’t prepared to get one, so instead of being patient, he hijacked the car from his comrade and drove this car for nine years with no licence and no servicing, and drove the car in 1st and 2nd gears only.
His comrade Cyril Ramaphosa was really worried about this priceless car and so were fellow South Africans.
If Zuma continued using the car in this way, the engine would seize up and the car would stall.
So after much negotiation, people decided to speak out in the interests of the car and Zuma, being confused as the law wanted to know how he had driven this car without a licence all these years, decided to give the car to Ramaphosa one night.
When Ramaphosa took over the car, the log book was gone and there was no service history for the last nine years.
Ramaphosa drove the car with his driver’s licence, but found out that after many years of abuse, the car could only engage gears 1, 2, and 3, and not all six gears.
Ramaphosa decided the car needs to be fixed and properly maintained to bring her back to her glory days, but all the mechanics in the land knew it would take a miracle to fix this car.
Charlton Matthews
Bonela