Why lead when you can just sit back and demand hand outs from the west. Kinda like social grants at country-to-country level.

We did have an electric vehicle over ten years ago, the Optimal Energy Joule.

A home mode Electric vehicle that was manufactured circa 2010 for demo/expo purposes. Government decided to pull funding and SA has forever been behind in the EV race since then.

This is a common tactic. In Zimbabwe, Strive Masiyiwa, one of, now, Africa’s richest and self-made billionaires wanted to setup Zimbabwe’s first cellphone network. Mugabe and cronies looked away while Masiyiwa put up infrastructure then just as he was about to flip the switch “regulation” was introduced that required that he get licenced first.

They kept him in courts while they refused to licence him (and his company Econet) and at the same time setup NetOne and licenced a friend in the form of Telecel (James Makamba). All the while frustrating Masiyiwa.

Only when they felt they had locked in the market and secured the deals did they relent and grant Econet permission to operate. Thankfully the people of Zimbabwe flocked to Econet to spite ZANU PF, Mugabe and the government of Mugabe. It became Zimbabwe’s biggest network overnight!

So, these shenanigans are not new. South Africa will go through its own with this and Starlink and more…at the end of the day the taxpayer pays.