gathering
Some of the participants at the Gathering. Source: Twitter @digitaljungle.

Home » Bike Lanes, Berets and Bantustans: Best Quotes from High-Profile SA Meeting

Bike Lanes, Berets and Bantustans: Best Quotes from High-Profile SA Meeting

A veritable who’s who of South African politics were at The Gathering in Midrand on Friday, organised by Nando’s and the Daily Maverick. The focus was on the municipal elections, and speakers included everyone from three Joburg mayoral candidates to finance minister Pravin Gordhan to the EFF’s Julius Malema – who, going by the coverage he got, had […]

By SAPeople Staff Writer
11-06-16 13:11
in Business
gathering
Some of the participants at the Gathering. Source: Twitter @digitaljungle.

A veritable who’s who of South African politics were at The Gathering in Midrand on Friday, organised by Nando’s and the Daily Maverick. The focus was on the municipal elections, and speakers included everyone from three Joburg mayoral candidates to finance minister Pravin Gordhan to the EFF’s Julius Malema – who, going by the coverage he got, had the most quotable quotes.

We have picked some of the best quotes of the day.

gathering
Some of the participants at the Gathering. Source: Twitter @digitaljungle.

Julius Malema: When I say I hate white supremacy‚ I don’t say I hate white people. This is their own home [country]. They have a role to play but they must agree that there must be a deliberate programme to empower black people the same way there was a deliberate programme to empower white people.

Pravin Gordhan: We need the hard work of building unity of purpose, where we forget our differences and hunt for common ground.

Malema: Why must we build bike lanes for white people when we don’t have a cycling culture?

(In response) Parks Tau (Johannesburg Mayor): He (Malema) actually doesn’t understand that for a great number of people that live in Diepsloot, Alexandra and Ivory Park, the primary mode of transport is bicycles.

Gordhan: Don’t be too depressed about the country, there are many things that are going well.

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Part of the very large audience. Source: Twitter @akianastasiou.

Jay Naidoo (former cabinet minister under Nelson Mandela): We have 300 days of sunshine yet we’re going the nuclear route because it benefits someone’s pocket.

Mark Heywood (executive director of SECTION27, a public interest law centre promoting human rights): You can’t find an ANC member now who says he didn’t shut his mouth during Mbeki AIDS denialism. The same will happen when JZ goes.

Iraj Abedian (economist and former UCT professor): Anyone who makes a billion in less than a generation without serious innovation is a crook.

Mmusi Maimane (leader of the Democratic Alliance): If the EFF ever does take power through the barrel of the gun, this (the destruction of the economy) is what we can look forward to and I don’t think we can look far. We can ask Zimbabweans who have fled Zimbabwe what the prospect of economic policies that are promulgated by the EFF have delivered.

Robert McBride (former head of the Ekurhuleni police and now the suspended chief of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate): How can it be that an Apartheid-era policeman, Nerneng Ntlemeza, can run the Hawks?

(Replying) Zwelinzima Vavi (former COSATU chief): Not Apartheid (era), Bantustan.

Zweli Mkhize (ANC treasurer general): Pravin Gordhan comes from the same party (as President Jacob Zuma). We need to give him more support rather than continue to create a schism between them.

And, to add a moment of lightness to the proceedings, comedian Deep Fried Man did his own interpretation of Prince’s “Purple Rain” called “Red Beret” (part of the uniform of the EFF). See video below.