BTW, stop MTBPS Asap

In the same meeting, Tsenoli advised officials not to use acronyms in their presentations. This was to accommodate the public who might have an interest in the discussions but would not be familiar with government jargon.

“Please just say it out in full, so whoever is listening knows what you are talking about, in case someone else doesn’t know what you are talking about re MTBPS [medium-term budget policy statement].”

But a parliamentary official tried to get smart with the sharp-tongued presiding officer. “Thank you, deputy speaker. I suppose the assumption is I know what the abbreviation stands for,” the official responded cheekily.

To prove his point, an unimpressed Tsenoli told a story of how, when he was a deputy minister in Jacob Zuma’s executive, he attended a meeting in parliament with four government officials who could not remember what the acronyms, with which they were bombarding the meeting, stood for.

Turns out the smarty-pants parliamentary official, at this week’s meeting, could also not remember what MTBPS stood for. Tsenoli almost collapsed with laughter at the realisation.