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Stop selective morality and judgment

WE South Africans are truly a fascinating breed. Despite some doomsayers' predictions, the recent elections were free and fair.

WE South Africans are truly a fascinating breed. Despite some doomsayers' predictions, the recent elections were free and fair.

To celebrate the smooth transition, the subsequent inauguration of the victor was allocated R75million by the state and, oh my God, all hell breaks loose.

We are being showered daily with arithmetic, told how many RDP houses this money could have built, how many hungry mouths it could have fed and even how many Metrobus drivers and junior doctors this money could have given increases to.

Honestly, if all these arithmetic whizzkids had surfaced earlier, South Africa could have single-handedly prevented the world credit crunch.

Why the sudden emergence of these arithmetic pros and their fascinating theses? Because Jacob Zuma was inaugurated.

Does any of these people care to remember that Thabo Mbeki's inauguration in 2004 cost the same amount and that his 1999 inauguration set the state back about R43,3million?

Where were these noisemakers then? I say the new ANC administration should be congratulated for spending only the same amount in 2009 as was spent for the 2004 inauguration. And I know we did not want to invite leaders of nations and seat them on camp chairs, feeding them pap and wors because then, despite the saving of millions of rands, newspaper headlines would have screamed "Zuma embarrasses South Africa in front of world leaders".

So let us desist from selective morality and judgment. Houses will be built and the poor are being fed. Most of all, let us desist from being mere five-year mathematicians.

Eddie Gaffane, Midrand

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