Pomp versus poor

They all do it. They deliver a state of the nation address (SONA) to legislatures, painting a rosy picture of achievements and skating over many a hard truth.

Squalor in the ghetto

But it’s all going to be alright in the end. The oft-uttered “Vision 2030” will see to it. No-one will be allowed to starve as drought bites deeper. New housing is on the cards, economic revival is just around the corner, investment will  be untrammeled by bribes and tender fiddles. Acute power and water shortages will disappear. Education and health care are on the mend…

(Left) Building bricks serve as school desks, classes go outside to the the shade of a tree, away from holes in the roof, kids are sent home if fees are not paid on time, toilets and washbasins are dire and computer learning, books and stationary are out of reach.

Motorcades sweep out to the new Chinese-built parliament located outside the city. The vintage Rolls Royce was inherited from the British. The pith-helmets of the lance-bearing mounted police escort have been there for decades, as has the regalia of the robed and wigged judges. Bodyguards for the rich and powerful are everywhere.

The Richter Scale of Hunger. Where do you think you are? Phase Two or Phase Three?