The “Dream” team

What a sexy minx

With communications minister, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburi going to the big dial up connection in the sky this week, a lot has been said about her tenure. You see, Ivy was part of ex (mercifully) president Thabo Mbeki’s so called “Dream Team”, a group of ministers more akin to a nightmare than anything else.

Ivy was a teacher by profession and spent many years teaching overseas while at the same time championing the anti-apartheid movement. When she returned to South Africa in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela, she found herself in cushy government service in the CSIR, Sentech and eventually provincial and national government. Ivy was appointed as premier of the Free-State before being made the minister of communication for ten very long years. In those ten years she took South Africa from a potentially massive Internet entrepreneur breeding ground to a backwater wasteland. The Internet is available for a privlidged few in South Africa and while no one knows the exact number we’ve got around a mere 1 million broadband connections. Not even death will allow the sins of this woman to be forgotten.

Here’s my issue though: what makes someone capable to be in an ANC led government? If someone like Ivy is to go by then if you have no previous experience in an area but you were a stalwart ANC supporter during the struggle then you are perfect for a position as a minister in government. Personally I blame Mbeki; if he hadn’t been so stubborn and willing to face criticism we might actually have had decent ministers rather than alcohol soaked incompetents. When will the government of this country realise that rewarding members of the struggle is only going to make our country worse?

I’m wildly optimistic about this years election resulting in decent people being put into power. With the likes of Barbara Hogan being put into power after the “recall” of Mbeki and his ministers quiting makes me hopeful. Once the disgusting agenda of cronyism gets put on the backburner I hope we can finally go forward as a country and develop rather than being held back by incompetents.

The irony is that I would much rather have put my tax money to the “Ivy in a cushy job tucked away” fund rather than have her ruin the development of the Internet in our country. Dear Ivy, may you be an example of how not to act in our country and can we please get some decent Internet here please?

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