The president should retire – says Lekota
Lekota added Zuma missed an opportunity to reassure South Africans that we are in good hands and that there is a credible plan to deal with ongoing challenges.
MBOMBELA- Congress of the People (COPE) president Mosiuoa Lekota says President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address on Thursday improved only in the manner of delivery, not in content.
Lekota says Zuma missed an opportunity to reassure South Africans that we are in good hands and that there is a credible plan to deal with ongoing challenges.
COPE’s review of key priority areas, including unemployment, crime, corruption, health, education and rural development, shows a dismal performance by the Zuma administration over the past five years.
“We cannot be expected to celebrate the recovery of R300-million from fraudulent activities when more than R20-billion goes missing every year because of irregular and fruitless expenditure,” says Lekota.
“We cannot be expected to be cheerful about the high enrolment of pupils in schools when the dropout rate is equally high and the quality of education being offered is not worth the paper its written on.
“We cannot be expected to heap praise on President Zuma and his administration when migration from rural areas to urban centres is at an all-time high because opportunities in the rural areas are non-existent.
“The president cannot honestly believe that South Africa is a better place to live in since his ascendency to high office when the police have turned against the citizens. The behaviour by the police in Zuma’s South Africa is no different to the behaviour of police of apartheid South Africa.”
Lekota says unemployment is still hovering around 25%, exactly where it was when Zuma took office. In terms of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa, annual economic growth of 4.5% was targeted between 2004 and 2009. Between 2010 and 2014, economic growth of 6% was targeted.
“Instead, we have achieved average growth rates below 3%, and the president has the audacity to tell us that we are better off.”
Lekota says it’s clear that Zuma’s administration is bad at coming up with creative ideas to deal with the challenges facing South Africa, and even worse at implementing those ideas already on the table.
“The president needs to retire to Nkandla; he has no new ideas and I think he has overstayed his welcome.”
