Plant the seed of education, Ramaphosa

Without education, we as a nation are nonstarters, writes

from Northcliff

Cheiman

TNathan

he ANC and its politicians are not short of platitudes and slogans when it comes to campaigning for votes. Cyril Ramaphosa’s address at the African Renaissance Conference in Durban last week was not lacking in idiomatic expression.

Ramaphosa must surely be aware that the ANC government has failed dismally, after 23 years, to “root out the evils of poverty, unemployment and inequality”.

The “seeds of Africa’s cultural revolution” alluded to by Ramaphosa cannot germinate until theft and corruption is eradicated in government, and under President Jacob Zuma, this has got worse.

Ramaphosa’s macaronics continued to flow: “We have a sacred duty to harness all our strengths and capabilities to rebuild our country and continent from the ravages of colonial and imperial destruction.” Of course, he failed to mention the destruction caused by Zuma and his band of acolytes after the ANC took over and which has left a trail of poverty and misery only equalled by apartheid.

His speech must have fallen on deaf ears. The poor and uneducated cannot hear or understand gobbledygook, nor do the unemployed want to celebrate “black excellence “until they have a job.

Without education, we as a nation are nonstarters. It’s as elementary as that.

Perhaps Ramaphosa and his comrades ought to expound that simple principle to the nation before attempting to articulate hogwash.