Do these words not ring a bell?

Madam – As a matter of interest to readers I wish to relay a small section of an article published in a recent edition of a Sunday newspaper.

This article relates a description of how a country should be operated efficiently and the wording thereof, as below, is attributed to Cicero way back in the year 55 BC.

Cicero: “The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, and public debt should be reduced. The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome becomes bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

Those were words of wisdom from a wise man nearly 2000 years ago. Are they not phenomenal and appropriate – do they not ring a bell?

One would obviously be forgiven for assuming that Cicero must surely have had some or other sort of ‘confused memory lapse’ by mistaking Rome for a visionary future country on the southern tip of the African continent.

Hail Cicero