Dear Mr President, Africans are not backward
President Jacob Zuma should withdraw his statement last night that "we can't think like Africans because we are in Johannesburg and not some national road in Malawi" (see Daily Maverick report). .
The President was saying we must welcome e-tolls and pay up because new freeways have been built in Johannesburg. What the President doesn't realise is Africa is actually developing at a faster pace than he suggests.
Many governments in African countries have adopted investor friendly policies that create jobs. They are not burdening citizens with double-taxation through an expensive e-tolling system.
The President should rather take a leaf out of the books of other African economies that are actually growing faster than us.
This is what President Zuma neglected to think about when he signed the e-toll bill into law.