Africa-Press – South-Africa. Opposition parties are accusing President Cyril Ramaphosa and his entourage of wasting taxpayers’ money after he travelled to the Eastern Cape for the opening of a creche in a remote village on Wednesday.
The Little Flower day care centre, in Mbizana’s Qungebe Village, in the Winnie Madikizela Mandela Municipality, was opened by Ramaphosa during a low-key ceremony.
The president unveiled a plaque before reading a short story from a book about the life and times of Nelson Mandela to a group of 60 pre-schoolers.
Pictures of the event, which were widely circulated on social media, drew criticism as many suggested the president should rather focus his time on fixing the Eskom crisis.
Others defended Ramaphosa, saying investment in early childhood development was necessary.
The DA, however, made it clear that a local chief would have been better placed to do the unveiling, while the EFF believed a councillor would have been just fine.
The Presidency, however, said the preschool was built using a portion of Ramaphosa’s salary, which he had donated to the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
The Presidency said in a statement:
The creche had been operating for several years from a shack structure.
The president flew from Pretoria to the Eastern Cape village in a military chopper, accompanied by at least four bodyguards, the presidential spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, and the digital head in the Presidency, Athi Geleba.
A second team from Government Communication and Information Services, consisting of a photographer, videographer and a radio journalist, joined Ramaphosa at the event after having flown in on a commercial flight separately a day before.
The crew spent Tuesday night at a hotel in Port Edward, on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, before driving to the event.
The EFF in the Alfred Nzo region said a local councillor would have been good enough to open the creche to prevent Ramaphosa’s “costly” visit.
“Citizens of Alfred Nzo region are faced with serious service delivery challenges, but Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa decided to come here and hand over a pre-school that could have been handed over by a ward councillor,” said EFF regional secretary Simthembile Madikizela.
The party, without substantiating, claimed Ramaphosa travelled to the region to campaign for support in his bid to be elected for a second term as president at the upcoming ANC conference.
“We are most disgusted by the fact that all this is being done using South African taxpayers’ money.”
The DA said the president’s trip wasn’t necessary, especially considering that the country had a huge energy crisis which needed his attention.
The DA’s deputy provincial chairperson, Wonga Potwana, said: “It’s a shock and disgrace by Ramaphosa… We are still in the grips of load shedding. He has done nothing. We can’t believe he came all the way to open a creche.”
Approached for comment, Magwenya said: “We are not going to engage in petty politics.”
The principal of the creche, Nomangesi Dina, said the president’s visit was a big thing for the school’s 60 children and two teachers.
“We got to see the president for the first time. You have no idea how much this meant to the kids. We are over the moon. We are grateful for the building,” said Dina.
Ramaphosa was welcomed by his ally, Oscar Mabuyane, who is the Eastern Cape premier and ANC chairperson in the province.
Mabuyane drove from Bhisho, accompanied by hisentourage.
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