The issue is not about Zuma – he didn’t really get a chance to dispense patronage here or not. To me, the issue is that it is symptomatic of a larget mentality among higher profile ANC cadres – that positions are there for their benefit, as opposed for them to actually serve the millions of citizens of South Africa.

As regards the 90 visas, we are very skeptical as to the purpose. It is well and good to remove the need to have R 2000 as cash to get a visa to visit SA. It is another to allow persons to leave their homes and work on short contracts and then expect them to go back home. With the unemployment figures so high in SA, I wonder is there will be any relief except for farmers who will get cheap labour. A fair power sharing deal would have made this move unnecessary actually.

I am disgusted to read your comments; not because I disagree with their content but because they contain the truth in the South African context.

I think people should not expect anything new from the Zuma presidency. His looks more like more of the same or even worse than that. I just hope that the likes of Mbete are merely the last kicks of a dying horse.

It is high time that we start BEE from the grassroots level not from the top downwards. We must be focussing on things like basic education for the poor and starting development projects in the poor areas and making sure that those projects benefit the poor and manage those projects and make sure that the money forked out for those projects is utilised for same.

The economic potential of our country is harvested for the select few. This must come to an end. The concept of two economies in our country should be abolished. Admittedly, these cannot be done all at once as even Rome was not built in a day. However, the problem is that we have not put a single step in the right direction. It would be better for the poor people of this country to be told to be patient whilst they see that something is being done whilst they wait. How can you be patient when you see that nothing is being done about your problems?

That is the problem with the ANC government. They always tell us that we must be patient as they cannot undo the damage done to us for centuries in only a few years of being in power. Why must we continue to wait when nothing is being done currently? What are we gonna say we’re waiting for? Waiting for the elite to fill the pockets and those of thier families and friends and then maybe we will be next in line? How long will that be?

It is a mentality of jumping on the gravy train, and of, “F**k the people! We’re the people!”

Sne, the idea that ministers actually need to know something about their portfolio seems to have gone out of the window many moons ago, judging by some of the people the ANC appointed to various positions. I’m not going to list them all, because it would take too long, but unfortunately, it seems that aside from Trevor Manuel, there are very few people who actually understand the subject matter which they are responsible for.

This thing with Mbete (who has never really made a shining name for herself, lets be honest) is symptomatic of the real story here – the mentality that pervades the majority of the profile-holding ANC elite when it comes to positions of power. It is a mentality that smacks of self-service and self-interest, the idea that positions exist for the person occupying them, instead of to serve the people who allow that person to occupy them. If Mbete was a true “servant of the people”, as the ANC claims it’s MPs are, would it really make a difference as to whether she served in the capacity of VP, or ordinary MP? She seems more interested in what she stands to gain than anything else…which, frankly, isn’t entirely surprising considering the political party she belongs to – sadly.