ANC broke towns across South Africa

Political analyst Price Mashele said that the ANC has broken towns across South Africa, with tenderpreneurs enriching themselves at the cost of residents.

Mashele shared his views about South Africa and the collapse of local municipalities during a question-and-answer session at a State of the Nation breakfast.

Responding to a question regarding the systems which caused the collapse of towns, he dismissed this suggestion. Instead, he said, it was the ANC which caused the collapse.

“I am 50 years old. I lived during apartheid, and I live in the rural areas. I would travel to towns across South Africa,” he said.

“There was a time when the towns were not broken. At that time, South Africa was run by the National Party of the apartheid government.”

“There were no potholes. That is the summary of the apartheid system. Yes, there were problems. We didn’t have rights as black people, and I wanted rights.”

He said that, when you fast-forward to today, towns across South Africa are in poor condition. “Over the past 30 years or so, these towns have been broken,” he said.

“They were not broken by systems. They were broken by the ANC, the African National Congress. Go to every town that is run by the ANC. They are broken.”

Mashele said that tenderpreneurs, politically connected individuals who use their government ties to secure lucrative public procurement contracts, are key players.

“The price that a tenderpreneur charges to fix or do anything is four to five times the normal price. This is a fact,” he said.

“When the country is in trouble, it is not the time to lie to each other. It is actually the time to tell each other the truth.”

“We are where we are because the ANC has mismanaged, looted, and broken our country. Full stop. It is now time to experiment with something else.”

The characters who broke South Africa

Mashele said that four characters broke South Africa: Corrupt ANC politicians, tenderpreneurs, hardcore criminals, and incompetent officials.

The first character, corrupt ANC politicians, are everywhere, including local municipalities, city boards, and at the national level.

The second, tenderpreneurs, are people who wear a suit and tie, pretending to be legitimate businessmen or businesswomen when they are not.

“They attend backroom meetings at night, and by morning, their bank account swells with money coming from the corrupt,” he said.

The third, hardcore criminals, step in when a government contract doesn’t go to a tenderpreneur but instead goes to a competitor.

“They hire a hitman to sort out the competition. As a result, they are busy murdering one another across the country,” he said.

The final character is an incompetent official. “If you visit any municipality or government department, you will find they are full of these individuals,” he said.

“If you told them to step down and try to work in the private sector, they wouldn’t even be able to write a basic letter.”

However, despite their incompetence, these individuals occupy senior positions and earn massive salaries.

Mashele said that these four characters formed an alliance which destroyed South Africa and need to be addressed as part of fixing the country.