Thirsting for the truth in the east
Once upon a time, in the dreary month-end afternoons of the township, desperate parents sent their kids to lie to the vodka-reeking mashonisa: “Daddy says he is not here”. But no child could fool the staggering Laqasha, who’d storm in, knobkerrie at the ready, turning the lie into a horror movie scene. Only a government ambulance could save the lying parent.
Officials at Govan Mbeki Municipality pulled a similar stunt recently, blaming water shortages on faulty pipes, a classic exam-ple of “the dog ate my homework” type of excuse, yet as flimsy as a wet tissue paper.
Enter MEC Speedy Mashilo, the innocent kid before the unflinching lawmakers. “It’s not infrastructure,” he confessed. “The council owes Rand Water R800-million.”
Like S’dumo, whose knee felt Laqasha’s wrath, the municipality better brace itself. The mashonisa doesn’t forgive.
