Minister Gwede Mantashe’s kiss from an elderly Northern Cape woman this past weekend has sparked debate on social media.
Mantashe was the keynote speaker at the ANC manifesto review in Roodepan, Kimberley, and received warm greetings, including a kiss from one gogo.
This has sparked a debate on social media as closer to elections pictures of ANC leaders getting kisses from elderly women become a norm.
During his speech Mantashe applauded the governing party for its rollout of the grants programme. Meanwhile 600,000 South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) grant beneficiaries experienced payout delays this month, leaving some to starve.
Despite “trial and error” in governance, Mantashe urged the crowd to vote for the party in the next national elections.
“We are learning from a low place. Bantu education did not prepare us to govern but gave us education to be good servants. Now we must govern, and putting together a democratic government in itself, out of trial and error, is something we must talk about and never run away from.”
POLL | Mantashe’s kiss from granny causes a stir — would you give an ANC leader a kiss?
Image: Twitter/ Zamani Saul
Minister Gwede Mantashe’s kiss from an elderly Northern Cape woman this past weekend has sparked debate on social media.
Mantashe was the keynote speaker at the ANC manifesto review in Roodepan, Kimberley, and received warm greetings, including a kiss from one gogo.
This has sparked a debate on social media as closer to elections pictures of ANC leaders getting kisses from elderly women become a norm.
During his speech Mantashe applauded the governing party for its rollout of the grants programme. Meanwhile 600,000 South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) grant beneficiaries experienced payout delays this month, leaving some to starve.
Despite “trial and error” in governance, Mantashe urged the crowd to vote for the party in the next national elections.
“We are learning from a low place. Bantu education did not prepare us to govern but gave us education to be good servants. Now we must govern, and putting together a democratic government in itself, out of trial and error, is something we must talk about and never run away from.”
The minerals and energy minister said load-shedding was the worst challenge experienced by communities and blamed the governing party for not listening to warnings from as early as 1997 about weakening power generating capacity.
“As the ANC we must accept that we were warned in 1997-98 about how surplus electricity would come to an end. We did not wake up quickly and build new generation capacity; we are paying the price today,” he said.
Eskom has implemented stages 4 and 5 load-shedding in the past week.
While some on social media criticised Mantashe's kiss and compared it to the case of Spanish soccer boss Luis Rubiales, who kissed football player Jenni Hermoso on the lips after Spain's Women's World Cup victory, these two cases are different.
In Hermoso's case the kiss was not consensual. Many old women in the Northern Cape and other parts of SA kiss as a way to greet and embrace.
TimesLIVE
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IN PICTURES | Ramaphosa dishes out kisses and hugs in Kimberley
Grants saga: Pensioners run out of food
Spain women's team quit as federation boss refuses to resign in kiss scandal
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