National shutdown | The govt has forgotten ordinary SAns: Maimane

JOHANNESBURG - The current government has forgotten about the plight of ordinary South Africans according to Build One South Africa leader, Mmusi Maimane.

He says the deployment of resources for a political protest shows that the government is capable of protecting its people.

READ: Maimane says alleged Eskom looters must be held to account

He's urged authorities to deploy the resources and use the same energy, on matters affecting ordinary people.

Maimane said, "today [Monday] is symptomatic of what has been going on with the state being capture and used for political purposes."

"Today is the political protest action by the EFF, the deployment of resources and the use of that power indicates the fact that when it suites the government, it is capable of acting."

"But when matters of ordinary South Africans, day in and day out, they watch their loved ones being murdered, gangs terrorising communities, energy being cut off. And when those demands are being made by ordinary people, the government is being incapable of acting."

"So today is symbolically and equally a show of a fact that this is the government that has long forgotten to take care of its people and more seriously that when it suits it, it is capable of doing its job. What we are simply asking is, do your job every day rather than on days that suit your own purposes."