Statement by Bantu Holomisa
Spending R5 million on the inaugural trip of the second Blue Train is ridiculous. The need to market the existence of the Blue Train is not argued. The sensibility of spending R5 million while TRANSNET is talking about retrenchments does not make any sense. This spending is a clear signal that government’s priorities and the urgent needs of the country and her people differ. The government can not on the one hand tell the South African people that they are fighting poverty and on the other hand they spend millions on a luxurious image building trip for the president to be.
The new Blue Train trip is nothing more than a weak excuse to enhance the image of Mbeki and to give content to the likes of the “African Renaissance” ghost. The concept of African Renaissance is not government policy, but the result of one man’s dreams. How does the ANC government then justifies spending this amount of money on this issue? The UDM believes that the money could have been put to better use inside the country by making it available through programmes to entrepreneurs who in the end would contribute to new jobs being created for South Africans. The UDM is not impressed by government’s continuous failure to provide to the needs of South Africans first.
