ZUMA TO SPLURGE ON A JET EVEN AS NATIONAL DEBT SOARS & THE ECONOMY WOBBLES

Congress of the people wants to condemn in the strongest possible terms the plans by government to spend R4billion on a new jet for president Zuma. While the country is in flames, students are up in arms over fee increases that they cannot afford and the lines of the jobless grow ever longer, it is a national  disgrace that this government wants to waste so much money to indulge the President.

President Zuma, unbelievably, earns ten times more that Xi Jinping of China, seven times more than Narendra Modi of India and ten times more than Shinzoe Abe of Japan according to information carried by BizNews.com. Russia’s Vladimir Putin takes home only 60% of what President Zuma banks.

As for the size of President Zuma’s cabinet, it is about three times larger than that of the USA, Russia, Brazil, Germany, UK, Nigeria, and France.

With the national debt at R1.85-trillion as at today, according to SA National Debt Clock, splurging on a jet is to break the camel’s back.

South Africa cannot afford the ANC government. The Zuma administration is impervious to the hardships of the people at large. It is spending recklessly and leaving a mountain of debt to the next generation to pay off.

We urge South Africans to stop the Zuma government in its track. SAA, unbelievably, is also looking to purchase new jets with no funding in place. Is the Zuma administration gone insane? Is there no one in cabinet who can foresee the danger of the fiscal cliff looming large?  

COPE has consistently condemned the move to buy the new jet. We simply cannot afford massive expenditure on vanity projects. That is a fact. Please let us speak out while the window of opportunity is there. Our debt is too high and our economy is wobbling. We cannot afford to spend R2-billion on an executive jet.

Issued by Dennis Bloem, COPE Spokesperson, 8 November 2015