“The truth
does not change
according to our ability
to stomach it”
– Mary Flannery O’Connor
Whew! So Jacob Zuma decided to use us as a perfect example of how not to maintain national roads?
“This is not some national road in Malawi,” the maverick South African president said justifying his government’s plans to introduce e-tolls on the highway between Johannesburg and Pretoria.
First things first, let us not assume that we all know what ‘e-tolling’ is; indeed what are ‘toll fees’? A ‘toll fee’ is simply a tax that is levied for a motorist to use a road. ‘E-tolling’, therefore, means one does not have to part with hard cash to pay the tax; you just have to simply swipe your ATM card on some gadget or feed a PIN for your card into some machine.
The South African government introduced these toll fees to fund the R20 billion Gauteng Freeway Development Project.
But the Automobile Association (AA) opposed this, arguing that – while the South African public has generally come to accept paying toll fees on the major freight routes such as the N1, N3 and N4 – there is a huge difference between rural tolls and tolling in the urban environment.
The AA obtained a stay on the implementation of the e-tolls in the courts, so – at Gauteng Manifesto Forum at Wits University last Monday – President Zuma implored South Africans that, “We can’t think like Africans in Africa.”
And then the Malawi snafu: “It’s not some national road in Malawi.”
Malawians took to facebook and twitter either to agree or condemn JZ’s tongue-in-cheek remarks. While some were of the view that Zuma just said it as it is, others thought Msholozi was condescending.
The remarks caused some expected diplomatic brouhaha with our usually polite Foreign Affairs Minister Ephraim Mganda Chiume summoning Pretoria’s lady in Lilongwe, Cassandra Mbuyane-Mokone, to explain Zuma’s words.
In a week when ‘Iron Lady’ Angela Merkel stared down Barack Obama after whistle-blower and former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden made it known that Washington was eavesdropping on the German premier’s phone conversations, the summoning of Mbuyane-Mokone was not unique.
But then, putting everything in context, was Zuma wrong to use us as a perfect example of how deplorable roads can be on the continent?
I must declare my hand; when Zuma made his undiplomatic remarks, patriotic flashlights in me started blinking. I was actually glad that the South African media, that is often hard on Zuma, dubbed those remarks ‘diplomatic gaffe’.
But then, come to think of it, instead of hiding K20 billion under beds or car boots of a few politically-connected people, we can do well to invest the same in a national road and name it after President Zuma for shaming us into action.
If truth be told, our roads are far from what national roads of a half-century-old country’s national roads should be. Raphael Tenthani
If truth be told, our roads are far from what national roads of a half-century-old country’s national roads should be.
Just imagine, as I was dropping my little ones to school while listening to Rafiq Hajat expressing indignation on Zuma’s remarks on SA 702 Talk Radio, I was ducking a pothole on Victoria Avenue right at the junction to Blantyre Sports Club.
This crater (it graduated from the pot-hole status months ago) has been there for ages and nobody seems to care.
Mind you, Victoria Avenue is one of the main roads in the commercial capital, so Blantyre City Council officials cannot claim not to be aware of it.
Also, on these pages, we recently discussed yet another crucial road in the city – the Hanover Street between Ryalls Hotel and the Reserve Bank of Malawi building that was closed for ‘renovations’ on the stretch where the famous Kips Restaurant used to be.
The situation is still the same; the road is still closed several months later.
Talk of township roads in Manja, Chimwankhunda, Mbayanani, Matawale, Kazembe, Sadzi, Area 23, 24, 24, 25, 36, 49, Biwi, Kawale, Mchenga Utuwa, Zolozolo, Ching’ambo, Chiputula, Masasa, you name them…you do not value your vehicle to take it on roads, nay paths, in these townships.
To say nothing about district/regional roads. Talk of the M5 Road between Salima and Nkhota Kota with its tiny death-trap single-lane bridges.
The Chinese gave us the much-touted Karonga-Chitipa Road but look at the gaping craters that are already laughing at us now Raphael Tenthani
The Chinese gave us the much-touted Karonga-Chitipa Road but look at the gaping craters that are already laughing at us now.
Talk about the dirt road to the historic district of Neno. Actually I envy Mark Katsonga-Phiri for putting a bus on such a craggy road!
And the M3 Road to the tourist hub of Mangochi is not any better.
And one Jacob Zuma decides to mention the sorry state of our roads in his speech and we cry blue murder?
C’mon, good people, patriotism aside, truth hurts, but let us accept that we are the very inpersonification of the adjective ‘pathetic’.
In fact, with my patriotism hat on, I wanted to quote the Czech proverb: “Better a lie that soothes than a truth that hurts”. But, on second thoughts, I thought we may be served better by the Turkish playwright, novelist and thinker, Mehmet Murat Ildan, who said: “Challenging the truth is like playing tennis against the wall; defeat is inevitable!”
Point is, yes, Jacob Zuma hurt our pride, but did he misrepresent us?