BUY LOCAL, MR POLITICAN

I have been taught many things in my 78 years, such as “lead from the front and set the example” but, alas, these principles appear to have made way for “do as I say and not as I do” culture. The demise of GM is indeed sad news.

Perhaps our venerable politicians who wax philosophical about job creation, radical economic transformation, etc., should now “lead from the front” and set the example by practising what they preach. I am talking speci cally about the vehicles they drive and I ask the question: do they drive a vehicle that is assembled in SA, thereby helping job creation and economic stability? Or, must it be a luxury import to add status to their already elevated personae as cabinet ministers and other leaders?

Please don’t misunderstand me, I don’t begrudge any of them having a “company car”. I understand from press reports that, in many instances, top politicians have two vehicles, one for Pretoria and one for Cape Town. Perhaps they just don’t care about the man in the street who wants a job to feed his family. That’s probably why we see eets of BMW and Mercedes-benz SUV blue light brigades, along with Porsches, Audi Q7s and even Maseratis running around. (Fair is fair, I believe Dr Rob Davies drives a Toyota Fortuner and I commend the others who do so.)

My plea is for government to take a stand, put its money where its mouth is and declare all vehicles bought by any politician, executives of stateowned institutes, municipalities and the entire public sector, and decree that all “business” vehicles purchased must be assembled in South Africa. If the wealthy elite want to buy these fantastic imports out of their own money, that’s ne by me; perhaps VAT should be pushed up to 25% in these cases and SARS must disallow any tax claims for “car scheme” operators of imported vehicles. MARTIN HEYDENRYCH Welgelegen