Paying for what we've asked for, not for what we're getting

Speaking of the Nkandla squabble, how about we put ourselves in the shoes of our president? No, read further.

To the Gautengers, do you remember those days when you used to drive through those narrow Joburg highways which slowed you down? How you used to be inconvenienced by the barricades? Do you remember how you obliged by the rules, despite the fact that you were getting late for your appointments? Many people got fired for arriving late for work. And my heart goes out to them.

Do you remember how many meetings you missed because you were late? Hey, at some point, Midrand was a nightmare, especially during peak times. You’d bake inside your car, or taxi, if you found yourself crawling around there. But now we are boasting up to 6/7 lanes. Driving past Allandale offramp is like flying. Keep that benefit which you are enjoying in mind for a second... And come with me.

Don’t you think that our president must have gone through similar episodes of inconvenience? He has sacrificed a lot, people! Imagine our president arriving home one ordinary afternoon and... alas, his home is a mess. That thatch roof has been removed; that wall has been demolished; that fence has been pulled down; the kandakanda is digging in what is supposedly youngest wife’s hut. He looks around. Some neighbour’s house has been flattened. Nobody is telling him what happened. He must not dare ask. Asking is tantamount to security breach.

Serious-looking people are busy around the yard. They are not vetted. Nobody is. There are barricades to the hut of MmaKhumalo. The MmaNtuli hut is completely cordoned off. To get there, president has to walk round the fence to the opposite end, which means passing by the hut which he is not scheduled to be in this time around. Damnit! By that time, his chiskop is baking like your entire self would be near Allandale offramp.

He will not be driven in that rough, sleek, but dirty Navara belonging to Mr. Makhanya. Doing so will compromise his security. Makhanya is not vetted either. And who cares? The president spends an hour inside a spaza shop (it is still intact, for now). The shop-keeper gives president a glass of Oros. It’s all she can afford. It is not security breach. He has been instructed to wait for Project Manager (Makhanya) to fetch him using a strategically safer path.

To kill time, he strolls around with his young children. They’d been playing on a fresh mound of sand. 'Baba, ba yenzani labantu la ekhaya?' asks a curious of them. 'Heeheeheehee,' laughs the president. He finds himself walking on a freshly dug patch. Some labourer, unbeknown to president, in blue overalls, points out to him in a deep Zulu 'We are building you a soccer pitch here, Mr president.' (translated). 'And we are building you a fire pool over there.' he concludes. ‘Heh madoda!’ exclaims the president.

Mr Makhanya arrives. He has sketched out a rather "ballooned" short-cut to president’s scheduled destination.

Let’s leave the president to enjoy his treasure. We are simply judging him because we are not the ones whose security has been “upgraded.” We are forgetting that it is our highways which have been upgraded. How hypocritical of us! The president says he did not ask for the upgrades. Judging by the concocted evidence, or lack thereof, the president is telling the truth.

The other truth is that I am enjoying the broader, faster and nicer Gauteng highways. And the good news for government is that I am not going to pay for the e-tolls! I did not ask for them.