Focus on saving the nation, says Jonas
FORMER deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas has told delegates to the ANC’s elective conference that the much-anticipated conference would not be about choosing the party’s next president but saving the nation.
With only nine days left before the start of the eagerly awaited conference, Jonas urged delegates to choose wisely
“It is not about choosing leaders – it has gone beyond that.
“Those going to December 16, you are going there to save the country,” he said.
Jonas was the guest speaker at the launch of a draft Vision 2030 Development Plan by Nyandeni local municipality bosses in Mthatha on Tuesday.
“Things are bad. The country is losing more than R100-billion to state capture and corruption, with most of it going out of the country.”
Jonas said as a result the country was on the brink of collapse.
Nyandeni mayor Mesuli Ngqondwana, while tabling their new plan, said Vision 2030 would assist them to source funding in various places for development in the area.
He cited a lack of reliable water supply, inadequate housing, unemployment, poor roads and a lack of reliable electricity supply as some of the major development challenges.
“We need to fight the commodification of education so that even poor people can get access to quality education,” he said.
He said they would prioritise land for private investment, education and training, agriculture, tourism, healthcare and forestry.
“These are all things that we hope will grow our economy. Agriculture constitutes part of our identity as the people of Nyandeni as it is what we grew up doing, but it also has potential to boost our economy.”
The municipality, which is made up of the towns of Libode and Ngqeleni, boasts around 40 000ha of arable communal land.
Praising the new plan by Nyandeni bosses, Jonas warned that the Eastern Cape would continue to be in the doldrums if it did not take development seriously.
He stressed the need for quality education.
“We have no excuse to poorly performing schools.
“The differentiator in the quality of education is the quality of the teacher in front of the classrooms, the second one is the functionality of schools.”
Instead, he argued, the focus seemed to be more on school buildings than empowering pupils. — have