DA leader Mmusi Maimane has launched another scathing attack on Jacob Zuma, this time penning a column on The Daily Maverick that means the two probably won’t be exchanging Christmas cards come December.

Fired up by talk of that rather expensive jet that Armscor wants to purchase Maimane went to town, calling the government’s spending both irresponsible and ‘nonsense and poppycock’. Here are some excerpts from that attack:

There are only two possible explanations for this decision to go shopping for a luxury jet, while our fiscus has run dry: Either President Zuma and his inner circle have no idea about the true state of our economy, or they know, but they simply do not care.

Unfortunately, I suspect it is the latter. The flood of warnings and reports about the state of our economy cannot have gone unnoticed. Every economist has spelled out, in much detail, the fate that awaits us if we do not curb our spending, and revive our stalled economy, urgently. President Zuma’s own Finance Minister, Nhlanhla Nene, has issued these same warnings on many occasions, including in his recent medium-term budget policy statement. You cannot be president of the country, and not know that we are heading straight for a fiscal cliff. So, the only explanation left is that he does not care…

The current Presidential jet, Inkwazi, came into service in 2001. This is a Boeing Business Jet 737-700 with a range of 6200 nautical miles, fitted to a luxurious spec, and capable of carrying 18 passengers. The range means that some of the longer trips might require refuelling, but given that 63% of President Zuma’s trips have been to African countries within Inkwazi’s range, this is hardly an issue. A further 14% of his trips were to European destinations – some of which are within Inkwazi’s range while some would require a refuel in Africa. Stopping a couple of times a year to refuel the plane vs spending R4bn that we do not have, on a new jet? It shouldn’t even be a question…

But we’re talking here about a President who thinks nothing of spending a quarter of a billion Rand from the taxpayers’ piggybank, on his own private mansion. A President whose multiple luxury vehicle convoys speed through city traffic with blue lights blazing, forcing “ordinary” South Africans off the road, so he can pass. A President whose Cabinet Ministers squeeze every last drop of benefit out of the opulent Ministerial Handbook, to acquire their own luxury German saloons, and then upgrade them every few years. A President whose allegiance is, first and foremost, to the inner circle of cadres, who protect his position of power, the businessmen who bankroll him, and the many downstream beneficiaries of his massive patronage network…

It now falls to all South Africans to display the kind of leadership that will stop Jacob Zuma from destroying our democracy, and reversing the damage he has already done.

If you think Jacob Zuma is destroying our country, then use your vote to fire him, before it is too late.

Insert joke about JZ needing to apply aloe vera to that burn mark. If ever you needed an incentive to vote…

[source:dailymaverick]