Pravin Gordhan - Putting a Propagandist Cart before the Horse

Towards the end of 2012, South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was disillusioned with ANC corruption and said as much in his 2012 budget speech. But recently the man has tended to want to sweep the embarrassing stuff under the carpet.

Speaking on Monday at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg, Gordhan virtually accused South Africans of currently lacking the hope that former president Nelson Mandela's generation had:

'There is too much despair … we need to recognise the good work we've done. It's important that South Africans know we are not a dismal country.'

And how, indeed, does Mr Gordhan know that we are not a dismal country, given the extent of government and corporate corruption, crime and rape that continue to ravage this land and - yes - instil despair.

But he would have you don rose-coloured spectacles to overlook the abominations of government to instil false hope and optimism. A clever tactic. Deflect the blame onto those who are despairing and try convince them of a nebulous hope that simply doesn't exist at the moment. The blame becomes theirs for not seeing it in the first place!

This government is adept at lying when it suits them and creating never-never lands out of thin air. The NDP comes to mind - a theory without implementation and any monitored measuring, created to fool the citizenry that there is something of substance in the 'air' that we can all look forward to and which will give us 'hope'.

So much poppycock. Here is more rhetorical drivel about what 'we must do':

'There is hard work to do. There are sacrifices and innovative things we need to do.'

Note the emphasis on 'we', as if the government is simply a benign supervisor of the irresponsible masses who are the reason why South Africa's growth and moral standing in the international community lag behind. A neat deflection of blame by an agenda-driven politician.

Gordhan would have you believe that South Africa's future depends entirely on its citizens - not on a strong, competent, government of integrity and sound leadership, which he cannot highlight because the current regime - his regime - fails miserably in those quarters despite having 'achieved a lot in a short time'. Any 'achievements' he may wish to parade have been neutralised and emaciated by rapacious greed and slovenly leadership.

Gordhan has changed his tack recently and now relies on glib rhetoric to get across a straw-stuffed message.

Regrettably, there are still too many who believe him.