South Africa, unlike other African countries, has focused intensely on improving the life of its poor citizens, President Jacob Zuma said on Sunday.

"What is it that causes protests and demonstrations in South Africa when the rest of Africa is not doing it? Once the countries were free, it was each one for themselves. There were no programs to deal with poor people," said Zuma in Pretoria.

"If I am wrong, come and tell me which country did as we did. Once we were free we said our major focus is to address the plight of the poor. In no country in the world have you seen government giving people houses free of charge because they are poor."

Zuma said that since 1994, government had immensely improved the lives of citizens.

"There was no one who was talking about electricity in the rural areas before 1994. It was not an issue and there were no protests for that. No one was saying 'take services to the people'."

Due to the extensive roll-out of services after 1994, South Africans had become dependent on the state.

"The reality you can't find protests in other places is that there is no hope. When foreigners come to South Africa, because they are not used to government handing [out] things, they get here and see opportunities and thrive," said Zuma.

"Our people are waiting for government. Our people are not used to standing up and doing things. These ones [foreigners] are not expecting any government to do anything so they get here, see opportunities and exploit them. They have taken over your small businesses."

If he were a journalist, he would write to South Africans to say "wake up".

Zuma was speaking at the commemoration of 'Black Wednesday' and 20 years of media freedom in South Africa.

On Wednesday, October 19, 1977, the apartheid regime clamped down on the media, banning two newspapers — The World and the Weekend World. The editor and other journalists who stood up against the apartheid regime were arrested. This day became known as 'Black Wednesday'.

"The reflection about the painful episodes that shaped our history in the long stretch of our journey to freedom is impossible to avoid. This year, we remember these episodes more, given that we are marking 20 years since the attainment of freedom and democracy in our country," said Zuma.

Zuma also announced the establishment of a presidential communication and media working group to provide a platform for the sharing of ideas between government and media.

"There is a lot we can discuss, from media diversity and transformation to how the media industry can contribute to the attainment of the five percent growth target by 2019," Zuma said in a speech prepared for delivery in Pretoria.

"In this landmark year of 20 years of freedom, let us re-dedicate ourselves to working together to promote the right of the public to information."


http://www.southafricalatestnews.co.za/news/450-foreigners-are-not-lazy-like-you-poor-south-africans-president-zuma-says.html

These are different comment i picked on the board

There goes your democrats . . .

An African leader, finally spoke the truth. Curse me all you want today on this forum, Zuma is correct for once. You can easily substitute South Africa for 99% of the countries in this continent. Laziness is a central reason for the poverty here.

.

it's d bitter truth.

assuming u add Tonto dike or Tecno now it will jes land on front page

Hehehe! Southy bantu and their wahala

Have always heard that the South Africans are Lazy,that's why they always hating on Nigeria...most especially the business minded Nigerian

Nak.d truth

If it was one Nigerian that said this to a South African, it would have led to a hot conflict and the life of foreigners especially Nigerians would have been endangered.

Truth must be told most Africans are to lazy, how i wish they can come and learn about hustling for just 2 months in lagos.

govt grants breeds unproductive citizenry. .

Laziness made them jealous and Xenophobic especially towards Nigerians. South Africans maim and kill Nigerians at the slightest 'provocation'.

This is very very true

But looking at their economy they re better than we nigerians.
Although naija no dey carry last

seankafor:
But looking at their economy they re better than we nigerians.
Although naija no dey carry last

they're better, thanks to the boers that colonized them

iterator25:
they're better, thanks to the boers that colonized them

boers means

Is jacob zuma afraid of mentioning nigera.

Yet everyday millions of South Africans wake up and spend their days generating income which his government then taxes. They use this tax revenue to fund all these programs that he's bragging about and they also steal some of that money, but the good thing is that some are asking him to "pay back the money".

atlwireles:
An African leader, finally spoke the truth. Curse me all you want today on this forum, Zuma is correct for once. You can easily substitute South Africa for 99% of the countries in this continent. Laziness is a central reason for the poverty here.

Its the lazy few who give the entire country a bad name, some of us wake up at 5am every morning to go to school and study, every weekend my friends and I go to our respective campuses to study till late at night, I sleep on average for about 4hrs a day because I have to go to school, and manage my small business.
Thing is South Africans are "hustlers" creative and we are survivors we know how to take advantage of good things, we can't all be put under the umbrella, Being a blood sucking leach to Society is a Choice, not all South Africans are lazy and poverty cannot be blamed on Laziness

iterator25:
they're better, thanks to the boers that colonized them

South Africa was built by the hands of the Black Man, the Dutch and English Came here with their plans and designs, but we're the ones who brought those designs and their dreams to life, we layed those bricks, sacrificed our lives to dig out gold that they later refined and claimed to be theirs, the Dutch Just stood around and gave out orders.

When you walk around Joburg you'll see that's its still the Black men who are building this countries infrastructure.

I'm not being racist when I say that most of the beautiful Structures that existed before 1994 were literally built by the hands of Black people, so it should be a surprise that we would be taking credit for it.
Our Fathers and Grandfathers built a lot of that Sh*t$

Helghast:


South Africa was built by the hands of the Black Man, the Dutch and English Came here with their plans and designs, but we're the ones who brought those designs and their dreams to life, we layed those bricks, sacrificed our lives to dig out gold that they later refined and claimed to be theirs, the Dutch Just stood around and gave out orders.

When you walk around Joburg you'll see that's its still the Black men who are building this countries infrastructure.

I'm not being racist when I say that most of the beautiful Structures that existed before 1994 were literally built by the hands of Black people, so it should be a surprise that we would be taking credit for it.
Our Fathers and Grandfathers built a lot of that Sh*t$

just one question, were they paid for their work or not? and for the record, development is not about building structures. we have structures as well

Ipledge:
Have always heard that the South Africans are Lazy,that's why they always hating on Nigeria...most especially the business minded Nigerian

I think he was referring to Somalis, Ethiopians, Zimbabwean s, Pakistanese, Bangladeshis and Chinese.

Nigerians are known for illegal and shady business that's where the hatred stems from, not saying it's justified though

iterator25:

just one question, were they paid for their work or not? and for the record, development is not about building structures. we have structures as well

Built by foreign firms like Julius Berger..

iterator25:
they're better, thanks to the boers that colonized them

Boers are not colonizers, but SA citizens.

what do you say about the Boers in poverty, are they not lazy too?

U

vdGeist:


I think he was referring to Somalis and Zimbabweans.

Nigerians are known for illegal and shady business.

somali in the east,Abi we have another somalia in south Africa

Ipledge:
Usomali in the east,Abi we have another somalia in south Africa

Somalis amongst the foreigners he was talking about as being hard workers.

Tumisang akere wa e utlwa president ya lona!

vdGeist:

Boers are not colonizers, but SA citizens.
what do you say about the Boers in poverty, are they not lazy too?

Settlers are colonizers as far as White man's history is concerned.

As far as being SA citizens, yeah but ya'll are far from being African in its true sense. Land grabbers is a more appropriate title.

morpheus24:


Settlers are colonizers as far as White man's history is concerned.

As far as being SA citizens, yeah but ya'll are far from being African in its true sense. Land grabbers is a more appropriate title.

Tell me, are north African Caucasians Africans?
Aren't all human beings Africans?

vdGeist:

Tell me, are north African Caucasians Africans?
Aren't all human beings Africans?

1. There's nothing such as a north African Caucasian?? That's a dubious way of including West Asians into Caucasoid aka "white" classifications.

2. Berber/Amazighs who are indigenous North Africans are not the same thing as calling invading Arabs "Africans.". Even they acknowledge that.

3. All human beings are not African. According to the "out of Africa" theory, All descendants of homo sapien sapiens originate from Africa. Big difference.

vdGeist:


Somalis amongst the foreigners he was talking about as being hard workers.

So Nigerians are Lazy,you are fooling ur self,because some indulge in illegal business(which are not up 10%)doesn't make Nigerian lazy