Trollip: You are out of touch, Mr President

ACTIONSA's parliamentary leader, Athol Trollip, addressed pres. Cyril Ramaphosa in no uncertain terms in parliament this week.

Mr President

It's time for South Africans to be South African, to honour and respect the preamble to our Constitution and the Constitution.

This is no time for ethnic and cultural individuality. No time for racial polarisation or talk of secession.

We cannot afford a race war and we cannot allow those who ferment this, here and abroad, to incite us.

You said, “We won’t be bullied”, thereafter President [Donald] Trump issued an ill-informed executive order, fuelled by divisive narratives designed to fracture us. This should have reminded us all that we do not live in splendid global isolation. The backpedalling in the face of Trump’s executive order and the looming threat of Agoa’s revocation has been remarkable. This reminds me of the popular acronym FAFO, be careful of what you wish for!

The truth is, for years, we have been bullied. Our Brics “partners” dictate who may and may not visit our country, such as the Dalai Lama, and who we can or cannot engage with, like the Taiwanese government.

You have chosen to be friends with pariah nations that are neither democracies nor uphold human rights, nations at war with their own people – through repressive regimes.

Conversely, we treat democratic nations, our major trading partners, with disdain and insult.

ANC & Co’s racist rhetoric

Let it be known that the racist rhetoric so freely bandied about in this parliament and on party rally stages by the likes of the EFF, MK Party and ANC has grave consequences for us as a nation.

Your ANC sins are catching up with you. You have prostituted yourselves to the highest bidders who grease your party wheels with no regard for the consequences. The New World Order sees which side you’ve picked, and now the chickens have come home to roost. Pres. Havier Milei [of Argentina] was unambiguous about this in Davos [at the World Economic Forum]. 

Mr. President, your lip service to fighting corruption while promoting and protecting cadres in your cabinet who have failed at local government level – some even implicated and convicted of egregious corruption and tender fraud – undermines our international reputation. This severely limits our ability to attract foreign direct investment to grow our anaemic economy.

We have a new government, in word, not in deed. There is an interesting article about the changing of the guard in the US titled “Overrides: Inside the Revolution Reviewing American Power”. It focuses on the dismantling of an entrenched and manifestly corrupt order. It is clear that there has been no override or dismantling of our entrenched corrupt order, as your state of the nation address was as delusional, out of touch and fanciful as ever.

A utopian disconnection

Mr. President, you display a utopian disconnection, and I am not surprised, because your ministers do the same.

Such as Minister Mantashe, who says “Sizaba khupha" (we'll take it out) when asked when his department will retrieve the remains of the Lily Mine victims. Nine years later, they are still there, leaving their families without closure. Now we are told with callous disdain that the mine will reopen under Vantage Goldfields, with not a word about their retrieval.

Your police minister informs you that every police station has a victim-friendly support desk. They don’t! Just ask all the victims of gender-based violence about the harrowing experience of trying to report a rape at a police station.

Your minister of home affairs claims to be eradicating backlogs, yet the department cannot resolve a case I have referred to them of two South Africans awaiting passports abroad for more than a year. It is easier for illegal immigrants to infiltrate home affairs and bribe their way to obtaining documents that give them access to South African social security and other citizenship privileges that our citizens don’t have.

No, sir, the reality is actually dystopian.

And what about border security?

In your speech, you said nothing about border security. The only time our border between South Africa and Zimbabwe is nominally secure is when the Limpopo river is in flood.

Illegal immigration is destroying our economy, short-changing SARS and causing internal conflict, especially in the informal sector, hence our #Spaza4Locals campaign.

You referred to the parlous state of local government but neglected to admit that it is due to the deployment of incompetent, corrupt ANC cadres.

Apart from watching some government of national unity parties clapping like seals during your address and listening to their valiant attempts at endorsing your commentary, the rest of the country is not convinced.

♦ VWB ♦

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